I love this picture – total peace and trust.
This is a hot topic for me because I know I can trust Jesus with everything and everyone that comes into my life. But knowing and doing are the connection points. If I am to challenge others to “walk the talk” then I must do so as well. I talk about living and engaging in life as Jesus did – to be more like Him each day.
Well, I got a little nudge about that already this morning. It was about how much I trust God to handle every detail of my life; to protect and provide for every need and situation. I hear other voices, well-meaning voices, and I am listening more to them than my God – so wrong. Granted, God does put other people there who care to help protect us so it is important to listen and weigh their words and motives against God’s Word and His leading; through His Word, in prayer, through the doors opening and closing to steer me in His direction and plan. Ultimately it is you/me and God and whether we have been listening and obedient regardless of what the world and others say or do.
I have been through a great deal in the last 4 years. I, at times, trusted too much and too easily. Yet, I was certain that however “off” it seemed to others, I was following God’s leading. Sometimes it was easier to not rock the boat. I learned a lot. Still working on truly hearing HIS whisper above everything and every one in my visible world. I am listening to trusted council but ultimately it is God’s voice I seek to hear and respond to in the midst.
For instance, I came back across Jesus talking to the disciples about having trust/faith as a little child. Simple, direct, uncomplicated. (Mark 10:13-16). Notice too that generally little children are relatively untainted by world experience. As adults we are skeptics and fearful and overwhelmed. We can’t erase what has flooded our minds but we can give it to God and ask the Holy Spirit to help us be more sensitive to His voice and leading.
Seeing Jesus and hearing Him in the midst of voices, waves, wind, and storms. Not easy at all. We are human and we tend to listen to the voices in front of us – the audible ones because they are the loudest and most insistent – that includes media.
In I Kings19 there is a passage that has meant a lot to me as God engaged with Elijah when he had hidden in the wilderness – fearing for his life and the Lord was about to reassure him in a HUGE way: Verses 11-13 – “The Lord said ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by’. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, bu the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled the cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ “
Always gets to me that one of the great prophets of the Old Testament still struggled with fear after all God had done for and through him. It reminded me that my fear was also a lack of faith and trust in the One who holds my life in His hands; the One who has accomplished things in and through me that can only be His working; Creator and Sustainer of Heaven and Earth.
Another of my favorite songs is called “The Voice of Truth” by Casting Crowns. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcuiuIwtpa4
All He asks is for us to stay close, to keep our eyes on Him, and to listen to His voice above all. Stop striving and freaking out because the world around us seems so messed up and scary at times. He is In control! He can take every situation, every detail, every person and use them for His glory and our good. The question is: How much do I/we really trust Him? Is it real/live or is it Christian Memorex?
followthisdream 