Just Keep Doing It

Learning to trust God and expect good even when circumstances are disappointing

What a gorgeous spring morning it is today! Through my dining room window, I can see green, green, green. A great improvement from the long weeks of “brown season” with not a green leaf in sight.

My Japanese Maple tree is flourishing. We planted it two summers ago. The first year it looked as if it was struggling and maybe wouldn’t survive. This spring it is tall and straight and overflowing with shiny, healthy, purple-red leaves. It is quite beautiful against the backdrop of green.

Makes me think of our journey toward learning to trust in the Lord. At first, we can struggle, a lot. People, just because we are all human, can hurt us, disappoint us, and fail us. It is easy to imagine that God might do the same. We find ourselves living on the edge, just waiting for the crash to happen.

I am rather glad to be alive, living this wonderful life. The truth is, this life can be challenging, hard even. New and different trials and tests seem to come at us at lightning speed. Learning to trust that our God really is Who He says He is, is an unnerving task. We often form our opinions about God according to what has happened or is happening to us. We cannot allow our life circumstances to define God for us. Only God can say Who He is. And He does, in the amazing love letter He left us, jam packed with the truth of His character.

Trust is a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something. Our problem is the how of it. In order to firmly believe God is trustworthy, we must experience difficulties where we have no choice other than to trust Him. We say, with sincerity, we want to trust God with all our hearts. Somewhere inside of us we don’t think the lessons should really be that hard. I would rather God would just sort of zap me and make trust happen. How about you? Yet, it is in those very tough situations where we are able to fortify our confidence in God’s faithfulness to us.

I love how this familiar verse from Proverbs (chapter 3, verses 5 & 6) reads in the Good News translation: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do, and He will show you the right way.”

The right way, the plan. God has a plan. His plan is better than yours, or mine. Even when we don’t feel it or see it, He is working the plan. He knows we start out weak, apprehensive, even doubtful. He is patient, longsuffering, as He encourages us to step into trust. Do it weak, do it with apprehension, do it with doubt. Just keep doing it. Before long we will have compiled a long list of all the ways in which God, in His devotion to us, has come to our rescue.

In everything you do, remember the Lord. Remember that He is good. In fact, He can only do good. He is delighted to bless us with all that we need or even want. He knows every pain that resides in our hearts. In the midst of going through some of, what we might call, life’s badness, His goodness shines light on the path ahead. He is looking over our heads into a future which we cannot yet see. We are safe in His care.

Jeremiah 17:7 & 8 is a heartening picture of where trust will take us.

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord

And have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

They are like trees planted along a riverbank

With roots that reach deep into the water.

Such trees are not bothered by the heat

Or worried by long months of drought.

Their leaves stay green

And they never stop producing fruit.”

May our trust and confidence in our Lord make us like those trees. Roots stretched deep into God’s heart. Relaxed, without a worry or care, even when the troubles pester us. May we produce life giving fruit for those around us. May our lives be a beautiful oasis against a backdrop of a needy world.

Esme, my five-year-old granddaughter, and I recently planned a sleepover at my house for the next night. Esme told her mom, “Tomorrow I’m having a sleepover and my heart is beeping fast because I’m excited!”

Sleepovers mean fun, eating out, games, maybe a movie before bed and a special breakfast. Esme didn’t know exactly what to expect but she knew it would be only good. She trusts me.

I hope your heart is beeping fast with excitement in expectation of what God has for you! You can trust Him. It’s going to be only Good!