Terror vs. Trust



“Or again how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.” Matthew 12:29

 The other day my daughter Laura shared a news story with me. Laura and I are similar in many ways but take very differing roads when it comes to “news.” She is an avid follower, even to the point of getting alerts on her phone. (Frankly I’m not really sure what that even entails.)  I take in just enough information to vote responsibly and that is often too much for me.

          Therefore, I half-listened as she recounted the story of looming danger and how close it was coming to our own neighborhood. My attention was divided, not at all evenly, because I am threatened by a few things that could hit much closer to home, our actual home. As Laura filled me in on the global danger, my mind rolled over my options in the more personal arena.  How much should I say? What if….? How will I explain? Those questions have no clearer answers than what to do about the greater, farther reaching, worldwide threat.

          Later my husband asked me what I thought about the situation Laura had described. (She gets her love of all things news related from her father.) I told him that I hadn’t given it much thought. I know God has His hand on me. If He allows disaster to come as close as Laura fears it will, then He will either protect me in the midst of it or take me home.

          With a deep sigh and no lack of chagrin I looked at my hubby. “Why can’t I bring that level of faith to our personal life? To our threatening situations?” I asked him. He promptly filled his mouth with food, a stall tactic to give me time to reach my own conclusion. It didn’t take the length of his swallow for me to see it.

          The global threats are completely out of my hands. There is literally nothing tangible that I can do about them. I can pray and trust my Abba. In the personal realm I live with the false belief that I have some control over the outcome. If I say or do the right thing, if I hold my head and mouth just right, if I…. (Fill in whatever nonsense works for you), then I things will go the way I think they should go. Not! Even if that were true, the way I think they should go is often not God’s will. In the big picture I am fully submitted to His will. I need to bring that submission, that trust to the small picture.

          The day after those conversations, the very next day, I was given several opportunities to worry, to panic and to lean on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6) but I didn’t. Instead, I took a breath and left it all where it belongs, in God’s hands. I was even able to share my epiphany with a couple of others. Speaking it out, declaring that I will trust God made it easier to do just that. This morning as I write this, I am drenched in God’s peace and joy. Has anything changed? Yes, a couple of things look a bit more ominous. No worries, God is in the house and He knows His plan for me (Jeremiah 29:11) and for you too.     

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