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I remember singing the old hymn Faith of Our Fathers.  The lyrics went…

Faith of our Fathers! living still
In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword:
Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene’er we hear that glorious word.

Our Fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free:
How sweet would be their children’s fate,
If they, like them, could die for thee! 

Faith of our Fathers! Holy Faith!
We will be true to thee till death.

Is the faith of our fathers in this hymn different than that of fathers today?  Yes and No.  No, in that we see few fathers who, although they say they believe in God, yet out of love for Him will endure what is described in this song.  Yes, in the sense that we do see some fathers who out of their deep love for God do endure all kinds of persecution.  What exactly is the difference in such types of faith? 

One of the distinguishing marks of the original 11 of Jesus’ 12 disciples was the fact that after Jesus ascended into heaven, what they did (not said) revealed just how deeply they had faith in Jesus and the truths He taught.   If this was mere mental or emotional belief, a month or so after they began to face serious problems they would have begun to fade into the shadows and go back to their old life.  That is what many do today when God lets them feel some heat.  In contrast, these men SACRIFICIALLY pressed on the rest of their lives through threats to their life and eventual martyrdom.  Why?  Because their faith had become a deep conviction, not just religious rhetoric.  THAT is a picture of the difference between real faith vs mental or emotional faith. 

While Jesus was still with them, they all were in a boat in the midst of a severe storm.  When they woke Jesus up from his deep sleep and said to Him, “Don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 4:38) Jesus then rebuked the wind and it became completely calm.  The disciples were “terrified”.  Jesus’ also said, “Do you still have no faith?”  Consider this.  Why had they started to follow Jesus if they didn’t believe He was maybe the Messiah?  Nathanael had already determined He was the Son of God! (John 1:50)  Why did they wake Him up if they didn’t believe He would be able to calm the water?  Was it because they had become irritated with Him for not helping them bail the water coming in the boat?  Or, was it because they had a level of faith that He was the Messiah but due to circumstances they were operating out of their soul (mind and emotion) faith rather than intuitive (spirit) faith?

Is your faith in God like that of the past fathers in the hymn or like so many fathers today who say they believe but resort to their own resources when facing serious problems?  Is your faith a mental or emotional thing or a deep conviction that calmly endures through dungeon, fire and sword? 

Thank you, Father, for the faith Your Spirit planted within our spirit when we were born again.  (Ezekiel 36:27) Help us to not only endure whatever life throws at us because of our spirit faith, but also take risks when You guide us to do what seems impossible.  May Your faith planted within us bring You honor and glory as we calmly release it in our daily walk of life.

Remember having a really bad day when it seemed everything you tried to do didn’t work?  Perhaps it is today.  Your dreams seem to have collapsed around you, and you feel like sitting down and having a good cry or maybe sticking your fist through a wall. 

The psalmist was having a really bad day! Everything around him seemed to have gone out of control. His problems were so severe that it seemed the sea was raging with foam and dissolving the mountains around him and a major earthquake was causing the earth to tremble! On the political front, the nearby nations were in chaos with several tottering like a drunk man.  He felt threatened on every side.  Within himself his soul was being torn between the uncertainties around him while in his spirit he wanted to believe God was in total control. 

In the midst of all the mixed messages he was receiving, God spoke to him and said calmly, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10, ESV)! Please notice, God did not promise an immediate calming of the proverbial waters.  He said “I will…” but didn’t indicate a tangible how or when.  When I have experienced that, my mind and emotions shout, “Yeah, but what do I do right now while You wait until all things are right—until all the stars get in alignment?”  His answer is, “Be still.” 

The Lord wasn’t in a mental or emotional frazzle as David or you and I might be in those times.  He didn’t call for an angelic emergency council and bark out orders that snapped them into action in order to meet David’s felt need.  Nor did He tell David to prepare for defensive or offensive action.  He wanted David to see life on earth as He saw life on earth.  Paul essentially said the same thing when he wrote, [the Spirit] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6, ESV).  From that vantage point, we have no reason to become all worked up when our national political climate, our personal health, finances, relationships or dreams feel like they are crumbling.  The only way to know when He is calling us to exhaust our strength, resources, time or energy is to first take time to “be still” before Him and then toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within [us] (Colossians 1:29, ESV).  We are then responding out of our God-inspired intuition and conviction rather than our mind and emotions.

Normally that is hard to do when your mind and emotions are swirling with all the sensory data you see and hear.  But when that happens, it should be like a yellow light on our car dashboard telling us to Be still, and know that I am God.  How well are you learning to respond to life around you looking at your circumstance from God’s perspective rather than yours?  It has been slow, but I’m discovering I am less and less influenced by fads, bad news or good news, or words spoken around me.  To that I give the Holy Spirit the glory because I know it has not been within my toolbox of disciplines to bring about those changes within me.  Please know this is doable.  Let’s work on it together. 

Jesus and His disciples were in a boat headed to the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee.  Little details like And other boats were with him add authenticity that this was an actual report not just a story.  Jesus was exhausted, so He found a spot in the stern of the boat and fell asleep.  A great storm arose, perhaps as we have recently been experiencing in Nebraska.  It was severe enough the boat began to sink.  Experienced fishermen, as some of them were, became overwhelmed to the point they woke Jesus up and blurted out their frustrations with Him.  They said to Him, Teacher, don’t you even care that we’re going to drown?

Jesus woke up and calmly said, “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39), and suddenly everything became calm.  This blew the minds of His disciples.  Why so surprised?  They had seen Him work miracles but not speak to nature and have it change its behavior!  My point is, the picture they had of Jesus was great, but not big enough to calm the wind.  Like other Bible characters, I have faced dilemmas thinking I was trusting God, but time was running out and there was no answer from Him in sight.  I suspect it was similar circumstances that led Abraham and Sarah to take things into their own hands and create a baby boy by way of their female servant.  In my case, I had our church hire the best candidate I could find to serve as a youth pastor.  Although that person loved God, was talented, and even had success in building the youth group, his lack of integrity took him out of the game.  For me, the God I had pictured in my mind was too small for my circumstance and my boat began taking on water causing me to make a wrong decision.

Peter wrote in his first letter, But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you  (1 Peter 5:10 (NKJV). Did you notice the Holy Spirit inspired him to first reference God of all grace then in the very same sentence write of believers suffering? We normally recoil at the sound of suffering and attribute it to Satan’s destructive work.  Peter then connects perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.  Wow!  That feels like an oxymoron.  Can suffering be a good thing that ultimately brings about our perfection and other desirable things? By weaving two contradictory actions together, he is giving us a bigger picture of just how big our God of all grace really is!  Is your mental image of God THAT big?  …big enough to orchestrate suffering to lead to perfecting and strengthening? 

If so, this adds greater depth to what Paul writes in And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28, (ESV).  This is what Paul must have been thinking of when He said, Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done (Philippians 4:6, NLT2). 

The bigger picture is revealed in Paul’s words, For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:29 NIV).  I’ve found God is big enough to use suffering in the process of perfecting, establishing, strengthening and settling us.  He wants us to rest in who He is, not in what we feel or experience.  When we do so, our anxiety level melts like ice on a hot day.  I’m slowly learning just how big my God REALLY is and as I have done that I find I worry far less.  I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit enabling me to see a broader picture of who God is.

Amber, our youngest daughter, wanted to get an early start one day while almost all of our family was recently at Disney World in Florida. Waiting in front of the notorious castle that often symbolizes Disney Parks for the daily welcome and opening of the park rides, a young lady with an overabundance of makeup on her face stood at the front of the crowd taking selfies.   Another girl with her was taking pictures of her as well. This girl obviously thought she was attractive and glamorous by the way she posed before each picture.  Interestingly, she was doing all this in front of a watching crowd of hundreds of people.   

While observing her little performance, it made me think of how young children especially often call out to their parents or friends, “Watch me.” as they walk on a narrow board, jump around or do something silly.  Of course, we smile knowing they are simply seeking the attention and praise of their family or friends.  As we age, we aren’t so brazen yet still use different techniques like telling stories or doing those things we think we are good at to seek the approval or praise of our friends.  After witnessing or preaching my dad would often say, “I really shook them up!” inferring he really made them think differently.  In other words, he was really looking for praise for doing something admirable—just as so many of us do.  Some get a respectable degree, have a nice car or house, create a business, (you fill in the blank) ____, etc. in order to get others to respect if not admire them.  It seems as though we all are shaped, by God or the Adamic fall, to crave the attention and/or approval of others.  If we are not skilled or attractive enough, we find ourselves in some form of defeat, low self-esteem or depression. 

These thoughts came to my mind as I read Solomon’s words, Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised (Proverbs 27:21, NLT2).  We value silver or gold that has been purified (tested), so why can’t we see the positive value when we fail to receive from others the praise for which we long?  Could it be that God uses praise to test and purify us while we seek praise to make us feel better about ourselves?  If so, our response when people praise us is being carefully observed by the Holy Spirit who is seeking to teach us to be like Jesus. 

Jesus said these very profound words, How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God (John 5:44 ESV)?  Those words have sobered me many times over.  They have actually changed my value system!  How so?  If I find myself seeking the approval or praise of others, it will be much more difficult for me to seek God and His approval/glory.  Those who thrive on accolades from others (crowds or individuals) will find themselves spending more time and resources seeking to fine tune their skill set, their influence, their personality in contrast to sacrificing the same things in order to seek to more intimately know the God who alone can give us healthy confidence and esteem.  In contrast, those whose passion is to know God, His ways, His value system more intimately slowly develop an immunity to the praises of other humans.  I know from personal experience this is true!   

No wonder Jesus said, But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides (Matthew 6:33, AMP). I believe a significant life on this earth is not about what we do but about why we do what we do!    

I’m on vacation with my family at Disney World as I write this.  It is a time when I do things, not because the activity gives me pleasure, but rather because I love my family and find pleasure in doing what they find pleasure in doing.  In this context, I learn from my grandchildren things about myself—and probably most all of humanity.  My youngest grandson showed me how fickle I can be when he wanted to go on a ride, then didn’t want to go, then did want to go—you know the drill.  So often we don’t really know what we want God to do in or even through us.  Our soulish desire depends on how we feel at the moment about the situation with its different facets.

In Psalm 139 David begins in verse 1, O LORD, you have searched me and known me!  After time passes, and he considers just how much God searches and knows of him, he is terrified because he knows himself.  He then writes in verses 6-7, Such knowledge is too wonderful [incomprehensible] for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?  That is what happens when we think about all our not so righteous thoughts and failures while also considering a most perfect and Holy God seeing and knowing all those things.  We want to run from His presence! 

After realizing there is nowhere to hide and reflecting further on God’s grace, mercy and intense love for him, David is transformed within and then prays the powerful infamous words in verses 23-24, Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!  Instead of wanting to run and hide from God, he now runs towards Him and wants Him to clean out all the impurities of his humanity. 

When we first come to know God’s love and forgiveness, like David we are in awe of how great our God is and comforted in how He sees and knows us so well.  But after we walk farther down the path, we find ourselves wrestling like Paul when he wrote, And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.  I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway (Romans 7:18-19, NLT2). Instead of being honest about our condition and running to God, we live in denial continuing to wear a veil/mask as Moses did in order to hide the glory that was fading (2 Cor. 3:13).  Not until we come to the place in our spiritual journey when we are real with ourselves, others and God do we humbly ask God to search our inward being, so He will be able to take us to the next stage in our journey where we can be totally free and transparent. 

We can talk a lot about our imperfections in the earlier phases in our journey, but not until we humbly experience His transformative revelation of His continued grace and mercy as David did in his Psalm will we begin to live in the full stature of Christ.  Until then, we will persist in finding creative ways to look, sound and feel more spiritual than we really are.  We say we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength—until He asks of us to be and live as Jesus, a true servant, practicing spiritual disciplines, loving the Father to the point of doing “nothing” outside of His will.  I’m finding in my personal journey the reality of the old chorus with the words, “the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”  Oh yes, Satan tricks me into thinking and doing less than righteous thoughts and actions, but God is increasingly cleansing me, so I find myself rejoicing with each of His victories instead of feeling the need to put my holy mask on again and again.  

Where do you find yourself in this transformational process David wrote in poetry in Psalm 139?  So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT2).

I inadvertently messed up some important paperwork and recently have had to correct it. It was humbling in that it proved to all who knew about it that I was a fallible human.  I suspect God allows things like this to happen from time to time just to keep us humble rather than proud.

While this was happening, typical of the Spirit’s ways, I began meditating on the fifth chapter of Peter’s first letter to whom he called “the elect exiles” spread across Asia Minor.  True to form, the Spirit began making a couple verses come alive to me—words about pride and humility.  You younger men must accept the authority of the elders.  And all of you, serve each other in humility, for “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”  So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor (1 Peter 5:5-6, NLT2).

Humility is NOT the self-abasement that we think of today.  A classic word picture of biblical humility is a powerful race horse that has submitted to the control of his trainer or jockey.  Humility has nothing to do with the horse’s worth, capacity or strength.  Rather, it is all about how the horse uses its strength to respond to its rider.  It is not what a person says about himself but rather his attitude in relationship to others, even in how they respond to conflict or abuse you or your ego.  The reason we are told to humble ourselves is because “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”  That’s pretty sobering!  Humility is not a loss but a gain, for it puts the believer in God’s favor and saves him from pride that would destroy him and rob him of future glory.  We often worry about our position and status hoping to get proper recognition for what we do. Peter reminds us God’s recognition counts far more than human praise. God is able and willing to bless us according to His timing.   The fact is, humility is as fundamentally essential to authentic spirituality as breathing is to our physical survival.  Without it, all a person has is fossilized, Pharisaical religion. 

Considering the vital nature of humility forces us to humbly accept change in our attitude and seek God’s grace OR arrogantly determine humility is not essential to true godliness.  Although a proud person may say he needs God’s grace, the reality is a proud person cannot receive grace because he depends more on himself or his creativity or ingenuity to lift himself up instead of upon God to do so in His time and way.

Peter’s next words really grabbed my attention!  How can we humble ourselves and yet not build our ego for having done so?  Under the Spirit’s anointing Peter answered that question by writing, Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you (1 Peter 5:7, NLT2).  I.e. You humble yourself by literally giving ALL your worries and cares to God—and not taking them back!  One of our greatest mistakes is to assume we can deal with something ourselves only to discover that we cannot.  Peter explained that the believers who continue to carry their worries, anxieties, stresses, and daily struggles by themselves show they are not really fully trusting God.  Why not?  Because it requires genuine humility to turn everything over to God and trust that He will care about you.  When the abused exiles would come to see God at work behind their suffering and submit, allowing themselves to be brought low, He would exalt them in due time. This is equally true for us of us today! 

Consider this; the worries and anxieties you wrestle with only show God is still waiting to give you much more grace as you choose to cast all your worries and cares on Him–and leave them there!  Corrie ten Boom wrote, Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.  Letting God have your anxieties calls for action–trusting, not passivity.  Don’t submit to your cloudy or dark circumstances but to the Lord who controls circumstances.

How long ago has it been since you heard the phrase, “One person’s junk is another person’s treasure”, or “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”?  Each of us do value different things.  What do you think of first when someone asks, “What is most precious, honorable or of supreme worth to you”?  Most of us first think of our family or children.  Others may think of their stock portfolio, job or business, home, friends, pet, etc.  Whatever we might call most highly esteemed would also be the thing we think of most frequently or where we would invest our available time and/or money. 

Considering physical things, Connie is most precious to me followed by my children and grandchildren.  Then I read 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV), For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  Hum!!  It is striking that Peter compares silver, gold and culture with the preciousness of the blood of Christ. 

If salvation was put in physical or monetary terms, how valuable might most of us in the U.S. consider it to be?  How many would sacrificially give of themselves. or how hard might they work to purchase salvation compared to acquiring possessions, power, popularity or pleasure?  Would it be worth one or two years of volunteer labor to obtain salvation–or would it be like going on a diet or making a new year’s resolution when other things soon distract from the quest?  Has God somehow mistakenly strategized by giving us salvation for free in contrast to perhaps earning it through living a perpetual self-sacrificing lifestyle as Jesus did?  After all, isn’t it true that we hold most precious what we can see or what we spend a great deal of our limited time or hard-earned money to obtain?  Given our human nature, doesn’t offering it for free actually make it less valuable to us?  Or, did God intentionally design it this way as His method of separating the authentic from the counterfeit?

What difference might it make if our salvation and eternal life somehow became genuinely most precious to us?  Would we talk more about Him with our friends like we talk about our family, hobby, work or business?  Would we spend more of our time and resources endeavoring to develop a tighter bond and intimacy with God through talking to Him (prayer) and meditating on His Word? Would we do those things in order to discover more of His value system and ways in the same way we spend on watching/listening podcasts to develop our skills or researching information on the internet to know more about our hobby, new electronic gadget or latest gossip?  I expect we would be much more generous in giving our time, skill sets and possessions for Him to use to accomplish His work on this earth—like we extravagantly spend to find pleasure or acceptance.  But how can we change what we think of as precious?  It must be more than a cerebral decision, although our mind certainly must also be engaged.  Here’s a clue Jesus gave on how to do this; Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be (Matthew 6:21, NLT2).  If I want my heart to desire God more, I must choose to STOP doing things I enjoy and redirect my efforts to find ways to enjoy giving my time and resources into what my inner being is calling me to do.  It will probably end up looking something like investing quality time learning a practical, meaningful and pleasurable way to mediate on God’s Word while having a listening ear for His whispers that energize us.  You might find getting one or two people with whom you can share your discoveries will expedite your quest.  It was more than 15 years ago I broke out of my old ways, and I never want to go back. It has been SO REWARDING! Jesus promised, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6, ESV). 

In the Peanut’s cartoon of yesteryear, Charlie Brown thought Lucy was the prettiest girl he had ever met.  But Lucy wasn’t always to be trusted.  The classic picture was Lucy holding a football positioned for Charlie Brown to kick.  Charlie would run hard to kick it a long way, but in the last moment Lucy would yank the football away.  The next picture was of bewildered Charlie Brown flat on his back looking up as Lucy would say something like, “I admire you Charlie Brown.  You have such faith in human nature.”  Creator Charles Schulz had touched the nerve of nearly every human—broken trust.  After ending up on our back looking up, our expectations crushed, we eventually tend to get cynical and guarded before taking a risk to trust again. 

When pondering the passion week of Jesus, I was struck when considering His last words before dying on the cross.  Matthew records Jesus’ words as, “…My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, ESV).  This question reveals His human expectations of never being forsaken by God—not so different from our expectations.  I cringe to try to imagine how I might feel if Connie, my wife of over 50 wonderful years of marriage, unexpectedly forsook me.  This must have been nearly unbearable for Jesus!

I don’t know that I would be as resilient as Charlie Brown by putting myself in a position where it could happen to me again.  Jesus’ trust in His Father must have been so strong it anesthetized his human feeling of crushed expectations.  Because within minutes of feeling that kind of forsaken, Jesus’s last words were, … “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46, ESV).  That is too profound for me to get my mind around!  Would any of us go that quickly from the excruciating feeling of crushed expectations to entrusting our very future entirely into the hands of the very close friend who we felt had turned her/his head away from us?   

When we humans feel like we are in a deep, dark spot in our life, our emotions and thoughts are keenly sensitive.  If we believe God had led us into such a dark tunnel in which we can see no light movingly forward, the authenticity of our trust in God is put on the line! In Acts 6-7, Stephen could easily have felt abandoned when being stoned to death after having so boldly served Christ—but he didn’t! The proof of his trust in Christ was seen in the fact that instead of withdrawing he looked up and saw Christ standing (rather than sitting) at the right hand of His Father watching Stephen endure such abuse.  His trust in Christ was not distracted by his circumstances. 

The proof of our trust is not in what we think we know, say we believe or in how well we can articulate it, or even in how long we’ve held to what we think we believe.  Rather, it is most evident when our life or future is at risk or God does something contrary to what we prefer.  If our love for our preferences or ideology is greater than our love for our God, it will put our spiritual future in risk.  The three Hebrew children modeled for us a trust and love for God by saying, “But even if he doesn’t [do as we prefer], we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up”  (Daniel 3:18, NLT2). 

I don’t remember exactly when I began to struggle with trust, but I do remember one time as a child I went to the library with my dad to return a long overdue library book.  I recall standing with him as he told the librarian why the book had not been returned.  No doubt my childish brain didn’t know all facts but whatever it was he told her I didn’t understand it to be the full truth.  For some reason that moment left me thinking I couldn’t trust my dad as well as I had before.    

As years past, I experienced many times when my mistrust of people compounded when they broke promises or betrayed me in some way.  By college, I had built a wall around myself allowing only a few select people behind it.  My struggle with trust lasted for decades. 

I read books and tried hard to figure out how I might be able to trust people more.  I learned “blind trust” is never wise.  Then I discovered what I called “calculated trust” which to me was trusting a person in a few areas of their life but not in others.  I might trust someone to be a friend but not to fix my car or manage my money.  I’ve since learned nearly every human has some form of a trust issue.  

Children often don’t trust their parents; parents don’t always trust each other; patrons don’t trust salespersons, etc.  In general, people don’t trust politicians, lawyers and certainly anyone in authority.  Mistrust is as old as Adam and Eve!  Our faultless God provided a perfect world for them and told them not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Yet, they chose to mistrust their authority figure.  Today, a person might trust God to give them eternal life but not trust Him to protect or provide for them.  So, they take things into their own hands and worry a lot.  Mistrust is obviously not just because of someone else’s unrighteous behavior.  It must be something within us.

It was my desire to trust God more that led me to change the way I did my private time with God.  To be candid, I was very afraid to change my method from what I had been taught and practiced for decades even though it had become only a duty.  But the Holy Spirit used these words of David to capture my attention.  Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you (Psalm 9:10, NIV).  I trusted in Him, but certainly not as much as I wanted to trust Him!  This verse revealed to me the more I knew His name the more I would trust Him.  When my desire to trust Him more became greater than my fear of falling away from God because I stopped the dutiful way I had been doing my devotions each day, I took the leap of faith and radically changed how I read the Bible and prayed.  As I began to journal what I sensed the Holy Spirit whispering to me as I reflected on a few verses at a time, I found my trust level of God grow stronger and stronger.  As my trust in God increased, I was increasingly able not to trust people more but rather trust how God would protect me in the midst of human failures.  I found great comfort in what John wrote about Jesus.  In the context of people beginning to believe in Him, But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people (John 2:24, ESV).  What a contrast!!! 

Later, knowing the Jews were going to kill Him, with incredible confidence Jesus let them do it based solely on His trust in His Father’s greater plan.   Eureka!!  Healthy trust has less to do with a faulty human and more to do with our misguided expectations.  My security is not found in building a wall around myself but by learning to intimately know the awe-inspiring trustworthiness of my Heavenly Father who will not only walk with me through fire and floods but generously reward me for trusting Him.  Fallible people will inevitably fail you at some point.  So, exchange your expectations of them for greater expectations of God’s faithfulness and perfect wisdom! 

How would you like to be called a worm?  Yuk!  When I think of a worm, I think of either little skinny creatures in the garden or fat night crawlers—the kind you split up and put on your grandchild’s fishing hook.  A worm is delicate and is easily bruised by a stone or crushed beneath a passing wheel, certainly not capable of hurting you.  But they certainly are squeamish to handle!  Well, our great, loving God called Israel a “worm”!  “Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you,” declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 41:14, NIV).

The context is Israel was helpless against the strong armies of surrounding nations, particularly the Babylonians mentioned in the next chapter. Compared to them, Israel wouldn’t have felt as much like a grasshopper as they would a worm!  In love, God was speaking to where they were emotionally.  What time in your life have you felt helplessly low like a worm in comparison to an impossible mountain of a problem staring you in the face?  With Israel feeling like that, God was encouraging them by telling them, as He does us, “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff” (Isaiah 41:15, NIV).  REALLY!! 

Contrast these extremes.  A weak and helpless worm compared to a threshing tool with sharp teeth that can cut through rock and not be broken.  God, who created the universe and all that exists, would have no problem making that transformation if He chose to do so.  But then, this was a word picture God was giving to the terrified people of Israel.  In reality, God has innumerable ways to create the effects of a “threshing sledge… with many teeth” on an army!  In their case, He could have used works of nature like tornadoes, plagues or anything to decimate an army. 

Keep that in mind when circumstances are totally overwhelming, and you feel like a worm in comparison.  It is fascinating that God’s ways have historically shown that He prefers to use the weak and broken things in life through which to do His mighty work.  Heaven is being filled with earth’s broken lives, and there is no “bruised reed” or “smoldering wick” (Isa 42:3) that Christ cannot take and restore to a glorious place of blessing and beauty.  He chooses the weak, so there can be no question that He is the force that makes it happen.  Why is it then that we work so hard to prefect our skills, looks, financial sheet, or power of influence when those things make us rather than God look good?   

I’ve wondered at times if I am not somehow working against Him by trying to say and do everything “just right”!  However, I have learned God ordained for there to be a healthy tension between me feeling like a worm yet exerting my very best while being totally dependent upon Him to accomplish the task.  I am reminded of Jacob trusting God to do His part while he put rods of various colors in front of the sheep when they drank water (Genesis 30). His acting on faith resulted in building a very large flock of sheep. We know that biologically doing that is totally insane!!  But, when God is with us, He takes our trusting attitude and honest efforts of obedience and mixes in His power and produces incredible results.  That was the formula He used to bring the walls of Jericho down.  Paul said of his work in Colossians 1:29 (GW), I work hard and struggle to do this while his mighty power works in me.  Are you willing to feel like a worm if it will result in you seeing God do the miraculous?