Two Signs of Trust

Imagine that you are in the Garden of Eden. (Humor me, ok!) You are surrounded by wonderful sights and smells! There are trees of every kind there with more fruit than you can imagine to choose from and eat.

Then you come upon this one tree which also has great looking fruit on it, but there is a sign hanging from a branch saying"Do Not Eat from this tree." If you're like most people, your first reaction would likely be "Why not?" Am I right? You may start feeling like something good is being withheld from you. You might even feel a little angry or jealous. "So who is this fruit being saved for if not for me?"

Now let's imagine the exact same scenario except that now the sign hanging from this one tree reads "A terrorist has sprayed this tree with deadly poison. If you eat this fruit, you will die." Now what is your reaction? You would probably try to get far away from this tree right away lest you somehow get the poison on you! No questions asked!

I guess the message here is one of simple trust. We know who put the first sign in the tree right? Do we trust Him? Do we believe that He is protecting us in His instructions to us? Do we know that He ALWAYS has our best interests at heart in the way He deals with us? Sometimes we don't always want to obey His instructions to us but "Our's is not to question why. Our's is just to do...or die." I don't know where this poetic line came from, but I understand it now better than ever.

Have a great week.

STOP!

Recently (just in the last couple of weeks) I was seeking direction from God about several pressing issues.  I was pleading for an answer from Him and was getting desperate that I was not hearing His voice.  In my pleading and crying out to Him, I finally fell silent to wait again for His Word to me........and it came!  One Word!  That word was "Stop."  Now I had a real dilema.  What was "Stop" supposed to mean anyway?  How did this apply to the questions I was asking?

Over the next few days, the fullness of what He was saying to me began to unfold.  Every so often I would get (and am still getting) a second word to go with "Stop."  Words like "complaining" and "begging" and "worrying."  Other words came too like "forgetting", "disobeying" and "wasting."

As I meditated on what He was (and wasn't!) saying to me it began to be clear that He isn't willing to do for me what He expects me to do for myself.  If I spend my time arguing with Him and others, that is time that I am not spending in simple faith.  If I am complaining to Him or to others, it's more of the same.  In fact complaining and worrying are opposites of trusting and believing!

He has ALREADY told me what to do in His Word so why does He need to tell me in some special way what He has already said?  My job...and your's...is to know His Word and thus to know His Will.  So....what is the conclusion here?  Don't stop asking, don't stop believing, don't stop expecting, but do so in the confidence of His revealed Word for YOU.  Trusting God means there are no shortcuts, only suddenlies!

More on this topic later.  Let me know if these messages are a help to you.