Who is in control? Who do we trust? (John 14:1)

SCRIPTURE: John 14:1 (NIV) - larger reading John 14:1-11

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

STORY:

Samuel Rutherford: "Duties are ours, events are God's; When our faith goes to meddle with events, and to hold account upon God's Providence, and beginneth to say, 'How wilt Thou do this or that?' we lose ground; we have nothing to do there; it is our part to let the Almighty exercise His own office, and steer His own helm; there is nothing left for us, but to see how we may be approved of Him, and how we roll the weight of our weak souls upon Him who is God omnipotent, and when we thus essay miscarrieth, it shall be neither our sin nor our cross." 

OBSERVATION:

Do you remember the TV program, “Who do you trust?” It aired from 1957-63 and ultimately put together Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon. “Whom do you trust” is the ultimate question at all levels of life. Cannot run away from it or qualify it with a disclaimer here or there. It is just right out there – this trust issue is tough.

Remember trust walks? Being led blindly through some unfamiliar area simply by holding on to the arm of another person? At some point, in this activity, (usually a youth activity at a retreat or camp) the “blind” person peeked or at least tried to. Walking blindly into the unknown is scary stuff.

Remember our feeble attempts at crossing our arms and falling (or at least attempting to) backwards hoping (crossing fingers) to be caught by the person standing behind you? This has proven to be great in marriage and/or premarital counseling. Do you really trust your partner well enough to catch you? Cannot remember when or where, but I believe it was during a pre-martial counseling session that I pulled this on a couple who failed miserably and after further discussion decided that they better not get married.

Trust is hard at best. It was the challenge on Jesus’ lips – trust God… then trust me. Mr. Rutherford got it right, even if we want to argue with him on some minor points. We want to “meddle”, we desire a “say”, we are not always willing to allow the Almighty One to exercise his authority. We want control! After it is our life isn’t it?

Therein lies the rub: It is easy to hold on to our belief systems and be in control. It is impossible to hold on to faith without relinquishing control. Faith is nothing more and nothing less than trusting God at every point. An acrostic, that I’ve shared before, says it all: Forsaking All I Trust Him.

Trusting God with our addictions is hard. Trusting God with our sexual orientation is hard. Trusting God with our politics is hard. Trusting God with our future is hard. Trusting God with our future is hard. Trusting God with our relationships is hard. Trusting God with our ideas and thoughts is hard. Trusting God at any point in our life’s journey is hard. Trusting God with all things spiritual is hard.

Letting God steer the helm is hard. Faith and Trust are control issue. Whom will we trust? Who will allow to have control over and in our life?

PRAYER:

But God I want control! I want to do it my way! I want to steer the ship of my life? And yet, as I do, my heart is troubled and peace does not rule the day.