TIRED OF TRUSTING

I had a very interesting and valuable conversation yesterday with someone at the church. She was explaining to me the possibility of cancer and the other sicknesses and stressors that had come on their family in the last couple years. She was very genuine in her trust and love of the Lord's plan in her life, and in that genuine spirit she said, "There always seems to be something to be trusting the Lord for." I agreed with her and replied, "Sometimes trusting gets tiring!" to which we both gave a gentle, yet sobering laugh. 

Because it's true. There is always something—or many things—coming our way that we can't control. There is always another circumstance, big or small, that makes us throw our hands up and say "God, I don't understand but I trust you." And sometimes trusting gets tiring, doesn't it? Sometimes I have so many items that I've let go of in the name of trust that I feel like a circus performer still trying to juggle all of those unknowns while balancing the rest of my daily life on a tight rope. It's overwhelming and confusing, and I quickly realize how incapable I am to handle it all and lean on my own understanding. 

While we are in the midst of these confusing times, we come to church and greet the faces we see week to week and we sing words like "All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give," "It is well with my soul," and "Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus," or "Give me faith to trust what you say that you're good and your will is great." There are probably moments as worshipers that these words come out on autopilot just to get us through the church service. We sing these christian words because we know somewhere inside of us that they must be true. And it gets tiring.

Many of these worship songs, however, were written through terribly dark circumstances where the songwriters were literally fighting for their lives or for their families' lives and trusting in Jesus was the only thing they had left. They share their struggles with us through song that we might have some hope and praise to sing amidst our own struggles. And sometimes, the depth of these words pierce our darkened hearts with light and remind us that we do not need to carry all of these burdens on our own. 

Though it gets tiring to continually place our trust in Jesus, wouldn't it be far more tiring to carry every burden, sin and difficult circumstance as our own responsibility? 

1 Peter 5:7 is a very simple command: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. It is such a simple command that requires so much release on our end, that we don't know how to fully accept. But I encourage you today to lean not on your own understanding, but trust in him. He knows you and he cares for you, and there is nothing sweeter than to trust in someone so much bigger than you can imagine. 

Thanks for reading, 

Jamie 

jrobison@b4church.org