Trust His Heart

I sat down in the chair in my office this morning feeling overwhelmed with all that was running through my mind. Preparations to do, people to contact, plans for the future to implement, places to go, personal needs of those in the congregation that are numerous, the challenges faced by my own children, my utter sense of inadequacy in dealing with any of what faces me. It struck me that I should be constantly in a state of utter dependence, because the fact is that I am totally inadequate to do anything apart from the Lord's grace.

Psalm 135:5-6 caught my eye, "For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does. In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps." The first question I asked myself is, "Do I really believe this?" As I consider all that is going on in my life and in the world...the chaos, conflict, confusion, and corruption, do I truly believe that the Lord is Sovereign doing as He pleases? The second question I asked is, "Am I okay with what the Lord pleases to do?" My frail and fallen humanity questions God when I deal with people going in for cancer surgery, dealing with marital strife, losing loved ones at an early age. But the truth of Psalm 135:5-6 is the anchor that holds me firm in these storms of life--God is in Control--and I am called upon to trust Him. As the song writer states, "When I don't understand, when I can't trace His hand, trust His heart." And I only need to look to the Cross of Calvary to understand the Father's deep deep love and know that whatever "the Lord Pleases" and therefore does what seems other than "good" in my book is merely a problem that I have. For God is in control and He is truly at work to do what is best for His people even when what happens seems so utterly far from what we would call good. When I'm overwhelmed I am brought face to face with the reality of my humanity and need for dependence upon a Good and Gracious and Sovereign God. I can't and don't have to understand His ways, I only need to trust His heart.

Father, I do believe, I only ask that you would help me in my unbelief.