Our Trust is Never Misplaced When It's Placed in God
Our acts of total trust will, in fact, always lead toward resurrection.
In late November, 2015, I opened my prayer journal. Glancing at my previous entry, all the plans I’d had for reflecting on Scripture fled.
"What act of total trust is God asking of me?” I’d scrawled across the bottom of the page of that last entry.
The jumbled events of the two weeks since I’d posed that question suddenly came together to form a clear picture. This very moment I was living through was the act of total trust. It wasn’t a single instance or one momentous decision.
It was the day-to-day putting one foot in front of the other.
It was explaining to each of my children that Daddy might never come home. He might need full-time nursing care for the rest of his life.
It was asking the doctors questions and seeking to make the best decisions for my husband’s medical care.
It was driving home from the hospital each day freshly aware of the tenuous nature of life, wondering, What if something happens to me? What if our children are left with neither functioning father nor mother?
It was setting the table for dinners provided by our loving community, tucking the kids into bed at night, speaking blessings over them as I kissed their foreheads.
What act of total trust is God asking of me was the question I had posed after reflecting on 1 Kings 17:10-16, the story of the prophet Elijah and the Widow of Zarepheth. I’d written:
Elijah asks the woman for water, something easy for her to give. She goes to get it, no big deal. Then he asks for bread, but she has only enough to feed herself and her son one last time. He assures her they’ll be provided for:“The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain upon the land.” She trusts him [and the promise of the Lord] and gives him what he’s asked for. And God provides.
Thinking of the every day sacrifices of family and community life, I had noted:
I’m giving God’s what’s easy.
What am I not giving him, that’s not so easy?
I recorded a few things that might apply, but none of them resonated. They weren’t “the thing.”
Now, two weeks later, I knew the thing. My act of total trust was to place myself, my husband, and my children completely into His hands, with no earthly assurances of survival, provision, or the things the world says will make us happy.
To trust that He would provide, and He would be glorified, despite all the odds.
Opening my Bible, I read the next part of the story — what happened after that scene at the well (1 Kings 17:17-24). Elijah stayed with the widow and, as promised, the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry. After some time, the woman’s son became ill and died. The widow directed her anger at Elijah, who took the son, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and begged the Lord to return the boy’s life. And He did.
The widow’s initial trust was not misplaced.
Neither was mine. Neither is yours.
The widow’s trust led to resurrection.
So will mine. So will yours.
The widow was still poor. Times were still hard.
Likewise, this “brain injury widow” is still poor. Times have been hard.
Yet I will tell you countless stories in the weeks to come of jars and jugs which have remained full. Most importantly, I will tell you stories of resurrection.
The lives of my family preserved, along with our hope for future resurrections, because of these very crosses we carry; because of the acts of trust we must daily make.
To wit:
Several years ago, my oldest son told me about the beginning of where Fr. Larry Richard’s book, Be a Man. Father spoke of challenging his students with the question, “Why do you believe in God?” The students had to give a reason all their own—not that it was how they were raised or what they’d been taught.
“So, how about you?” I asked my son. “Why do you believe in God?”
“Mom, I was there when Dad has his heart attack.”
He didn’t have the words or maturity to fully expound upon what he meant, but the answer spoke for itself, really.
No, our trust is never misplaced.
Our acts of trust will always lead toward resurrection.
Thanks for sharing from your heart through a difficult time. God is being glorified through your faith.
This story reminds me of a time when God made this story in I Kings 17 real to me.
I love how you tell your testimonies of God's goodness and unfailing love when we trust Him completely! There is a rich, rich anointing on each word! God bless you! I'm going to put that God-inspired question on my bathroom mirror. He sets up scenarios so profoundly - years in advance of our experience!