“My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;² for length of days and years of life and abundant welfare they will give you.³ Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck,    write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and of people.

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
⁸ It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body.” Proverbs 3:1-8

 “Trust does not mean shutting our eyes to facts. There is no such thing as “blind faith.” Trust looks at things as they are. It sees the dangers that threaten, and assesses them at their true value. It sees the need, and does not try to disguise it. It sees the difficulties, and does not discount them. But seeing all this, it looks beyond and sees God, its all-sufficient help. It sees him greater than the needs or the dangers or the difficulties, and it does not shrink before them. There is no fear in trust: the two are opposites. When we really fear, we are not fully trusting. When we trust, fear gives way to assurance. Fear is tormenting. How many there are who are constantly agitated by fear! They fear the devil, trials, temptations, the wind, lightning, burglars, and a thousand other things. Their days are haunted by fear of this thing or that. Their peace is marred and their hearts are troubled. For all this, trust is the cure. I do not mean to say that if you trust, nothing will ever startle you or frighten you, or that you will never feel physical fear in time of danger; but in such times trust will bring to us a consciousness that the Lord knows and cares. (C.W. Naylor, “Heart Talks”, p. 12)

 Having trust does not mean we will be protected from all harm. Having trust does not mean that all will be well with our lives all the time. By nature of being born human, we open ourselves to the inadequacies and the insufficiencies and, of course, the dangers of this life. This then should not crush our trust – it should double our efforts to find the G-d of trust and the G-d of hope that comes through Jesus Christ. Do not forget the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus looks to the people who would have had the most reason to lack hope and lack opportunity: he looks at them and says “Blessed are you who mourn, who are poor in Spirit, and who are meek.”  Jesus says, “Yours is the Kingdom of Heaven”. In other words, Jesus reminds them that because they understand their hope comes in G-d, and G-d alone, then their futures are secured through G-d. It is through G-d that our hope comes – and since the resurrection of Jesus, that hope became human, incarnate and manifest for those who continue in G-d’s hope. And then, we can live every day with our eyes wide open – helping those in need, giving hope to the hopeless, and food to the hungry. Faith does not shut our eyes in comfort; it opens them to sharing in the needs of everyone around us.

Pastor Dave