“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
⁸ They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. ⁹ The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it? ¹⁰ I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.” Jeremiah 17:7-10

“When Luther was summoned to meet the diet for trial on a charge of heresy, his friends, fearing for his life, tried to persuade him not to go; but he declared that he would go even if there were as many devils there as there were tiles on the housetops. He trusted God, and that trust gave him an unwavering courage. Three Hebrews trusted God, and the fiery furnace could not even singe their garments. Daniel trusted God, and the hungry lions could not touch him. Many thousands of others have trusted God with similar results.

But trusting God is an active, positive thing. A passive submission or surrender to circumstances is not trust. Trusting the Lord to save us means to definitely rely on him to do it; to confidently expect that he will do it. This leads directly to the confident trust that he does do it. It brings the conscious assurance that it is an accomplished fact. We are not left to doubt, to hope, or to guess; but we have a positive trust that brings a positive result. (C.W. Naylor, “Heart Talks”, p. 17-18)

When Luther had a papal bull placed upon him, he burned it on December 10, 1520. This act resulted in his being called to the Diet of Worms, in 1521, to defend his books and other writings. When Luther went to the Diet of Worms, his friends not only tried to deter him from going, they also accompanied him to protect him. In fact, when the Elector Frederick the Wise asked Luther if he was willing to go to Worms, Luther said: “If I am called, I shall go; and if I were too sick to go, I shall have them carry me.” The “trial” went as expected – the emperor Charles V wanted him to recant his writings, and Luther refused. He was soon “kidnapped” and taken to the Castle in Wartburg to “go into hiding”.  Now, these events could have put the brakes upon Luther – but the opposite happened. He would take the time while he was in hiding to translate the bible into the vernacular, into the German language so that all could read the scriptures. In his unwavering trust in his understanding of Grace and his faith in the Word of G-d, Luther used his time to bring “Positive Results from Positive Trust”. And this kind of trust can be seen not just from Martin Luther but from many a theologian and prophet throughout the millennia.

Our positive trust in Jesus Christ, that brings about positive results through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, should lead us to live into and to live out that trust in all our relationships. It is our challenge to continue in the footsteps of so many theologians, martyrs and teachers who lived their lives in that trust, no matter the troubles it brought them along the journey.

Pastor Dave