My understanding of what it means to trust God is evolving. A new dimension has been added recently. I was praying through a difficult situation, trying to get a peaceful heart and a good perspective, and I sensed God say something shocking. He said, If I do things that cause you pain, you have to trust me to comfort you. Before, I had trusted God to hear my prayers and do what was right, and if I was disappointed in the outcome, I thought it was up to me to get over it. Here was God acknowledging the potential for my disappointment and putting himself at the center of my grief.
I tend to keep things that are painful very close. It is an intimate thing to share your deepest hurts with someone, and out of all my acquaintances, I have just a few friends whom I trust enough to talk about the things that sting the most. But the Lord will not be content to remain a fairweather friend; he is the God of all comfort and he will request access to the most tender and vulnerable parts of my heart.
This encouragement to trust him with my disappointment has come before. Last year, a friend was praying for me and said that God wanted me to look to him for encouragement instead of always trying to pull myself up by the ol' bootstraps. Another time when I was feeling discouraged and wondering if or when things would change, the Lord spoke again and said, I know how it feels to long for your wedding day. I had not thought about that. Jesus is waiting for the day when his bride, the Church, will be joined to him forever in the home that he has prepared for us. And he knows the joys and the struggles of a long wait.
Hebrews 4 says that we do not have an unsympathetic high priest. Friends, will you tell him about your hurts and heartaches today? See what comfort he has for you.
I tend to keep things that are painful very close. It is an intimate thing to share your deepest hurts with someone, and out of all my acquaintances, I have just a few friends whom I trust enough to talk about the things that sting the most. But the Lord will not be content to remain a fairweather friend; he is the God of all comfort and he will request access to the most tender and vulnerable parts of my heart.
This encouragement to trust him with my disappointment has come before. Last year, a friend was praying for me and said that God wanted me to look to him for encouragement instead of always trying to pull myself up by the ol' bootstraps. Another time when I was feeling discouraged and wondering if or when things would change, the Lord spoke again and said, I know how it feels to long for your wedding day. I had not thought about that. Jesus is waiting for the day when his bride, the Church, will be joined to him forever in the home that he has prepared for us. And he knows the joys and the struggles of a long wait.
Hebrews 4 says that we do not have an unsympathetic high priest. Friends, will you tell him about your hurts and heartaches today? See what comfort he has for you.
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