It's all about trust...

We’ve heard it so many times that just the thought of hearing it again causes a spontaneous eye-roll for most of us. Yet words more true are hard to find… “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalms 9:9-10). I remember being particularly drawn to the first part of verse 10, “…those who know your name put their trust in you…”. We are to trust God in all things.

These are easy words to say, but for many these words do not truly live in their hearts. For some reason, it is much easier to love God, and even obey him, than it is to simply trust Him. I heard it again in church on Sunday that we are to obey even when we can’t understand why God is doing something. And that made me think again about trust. The words spoken had that familiar ring to them. If you just obey, someday it will all make sense to you, your life will be better because of the pain God brought into your life, and you will be grateful. For me, that just seemed more than a little self-centered.

What if God brings a situation into your life that makes your life worse…and it never gets better?

Till you die.

Isn’t part of trusting in God having the settled heart-belief that God’s purposes are being worked out for His glory (and not our own well-being…for now or even later), and that His purposes are higher than ours?

Does something have to eventually turn out for our own good in order for our trust in God to be warranted?

Ah, but what about Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”. This verse is slung about many times to tell us who call ourselves Christians that everything will turn out for the best. But does it really say that? Paul here states that we (him and those to whom he wrote the letter…and by extension us as well) know that for those who love God (and those are the people who are called according to his purpose), all things work together for good. Not necessarily for the good of those particular people, but for good. Since we have an all-powerful God who is good, it must follow as the night does the day that all His purposes are good.

So, do we trust God even when his good purposes will bring hardship and tribulation on us?

Even if that hardship is never relieved in this life…?

But does God really work that way? Let’s just pick an example out of the Bible. In the first chapter of Ruth, we learn that Elimelech and Naomi had to leave their homeland due to a famine. Now we know from Isaiah 45:7 (“I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.”), that God brought this famine about. Famine was not a joke in that time, but meant the same thing that famines in poor lands mean today. People, potentially a great many people, would slowly starve to death. Men, women, and children of all ages no doubt died during this famine.

Not everyone in the land of Judah at that time had the means that Elimelech and Naomi had to simply pack up their belongings (along with their two sons) and go to live in a different land (Moab). But that doesn’t mean it turned out for the best for those individuals either. While there, Elimelech dies, leaving Naomi a widow with two sons. These sons each take wives from the Moabite people, but both later die also….childless.

So here is Naomi, a widow in a foreign land and both her sons are dead. It is her, and her two daughters-in-law (Orpah and Ruth), both of whom are now also widows. So far this purpose of God’s has not only been bad for the land of Judah, but Elimelech, Mahlon, and Chilion (the sons) all died. Naomi now returns to her homeland since she hears that the famine has abated, and although Orpah returns to her people, Ruth refuses to be parted from Naomi. Naomi feels that God’s hand has gone out against her personally, to the extent that upon her return she asks to no longer be called Naomi, but rather Mara (Naomi means “pleasant” / Mara means “bitter”).

In one of the best love stories in the Bible (in my opinion), Ruth catches the eye of a wealthy older man in Bethlehem named Boaz. They fall in love, he eventually marries Ruth. Together they have a son named Obed. Obed in turn marries and has a son named Jesse, who in turn matures, marries and has eight sons, the youngest of whom is David (who would one day be King of Israel). Through David’s lineage, Christ will be born, and pay for the sins of all who will believe in him. God caused tribulation and death for many, in order to bring about his good purpose for mankind during that time.

And He is still doing so today.

The question that remains for his elect is the same though
.
Will we trust in God regardless of our circumstances…even if they never get better…?

Or are we so spoiled that we won’t trust Him unless it turns out good for us?

And if we don’t really trust him in that way, can we really be counted among those who know his name..?