Mt. Zion Bus Crash, Friday,

HOW CAN I TRUST GOD AGAIN?

Monday we committed to addressing a number of issues in these five posts. Each day we will link to the previous posts:

• The Big Picture
• Why Did This Happen?
• When Can This Be Prevented?
• What Should I Pray Now?
• How Can I Trust God Again?

Here are today’s issues we left you with on Monday. . .

How Can I Trust God Again:

In fact, the real issue after all of this is a TRUST issue. Since prayer doesn’t seem to work, how can I trust Him? Even if I do not worry about the issues in MY life, how can I trust Him with my loved one’s life? I hate to admit this, but if I have ever wondered about trusting God, wondered if prayer is worth doing, then this surely proves to me that I cannot! And what argument would someone use to show me that I can trust God again? I can’t imagine trusting Him again, I just can’t!

If you do not want to read the rest of this post, here is the conclusion, “God is still trustworthy!”

I left you yesterday without any real resolution. Some of you may have even heard me say, “DON’T PRAY FOR PROTECTION!” You may have also heard me say, “DON’T PRAY FOR HEALING!” And finally, you may have heard me say, “DON’T PRAY FOR TRAVELING MERCIES.”

I know that’s what it sounded like, but that isn’t what I want you to take away. In fact, just the OPPOSITE is what I want you to hear. Let me tell you why. I believe that God is so much bigger than we imagine. You see, one of the wonderful names of His is that He is the God of Comfort. And He longs, let me say it differently, He LONGS to comfort you. And when you pray for protection, or healing, or traveling mercies, and a whole host of other things, God transcends your words of despair and as you trust Him, He gives you a peace, a peace which transcends your understanding (Philippians 4:7).

I Don’t Pray For Protection:

I personally don’t pray for protection, but if you have heard me speak for any length of time you have heard me tell you that God and I do talk about protection, but it is never from the standpoint of, “Oh Lordy, Lordy, I need protection!” NEVER! My praying for protection is always from the standpoint of trusting Him because He has already said that He is my Protector.

I do the same thing with money. I never say to Him, “Oh Father, how am I going to pay the house payment!?!?!?” My prayer is more along the lines of, “Lord, You have said that when I seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, You will take care of all the details in my life (Matthew 6:33).

When I begin to think that I’m going through something that is too difficult, or that I am going through something that I do not deserve to go through I love the reminder of 2 Corinthians 7:5 where Paul confesses that he experienced the same thing, “troubles without and fears within.” But do you know what I love the most about verse 5? It’s verse 6. You see, Paul tells us in verse 6 his secret to dealing with “troubles without and fears within.” He tells us whom God comforts. He says that God comforts the humble.

Far from focusing on wriggling our way out of our problems, Paul is telling us the story of God’s chosen people, from cover to cover, namely, in the midst of difficulties, tragedies, etc. humble yourself before God, submit to Him, trust Him, and what will be the result? Yes, comfort! His comfort. Do you know what He will accomplish in your life? He will comfort you so that you can comfort others in the self-same way (2 Corinthians 1:4).

May I confess something to you? There are times when circumstances in my life have taxed my faith so strongly that the only prayer I have is, “Father, thank you for another opportunity for You to rebuild my faith muscle, and I get to watch You do it! I may begin because of despair, but I cannot say those words without a sure hope because of who God is!

I had lunch today with two Christian friends. We talked about the disciples who OBEDIENTLY followed Christ’s direction, and ended up in a storm. And then one of them reminded us that a long time ago there were 3 godly young men who were thrown into a fiery furnace (they forgot their names so I reminded them, My-Shack, Your-Shack, and A-Bungalo, which was the way I learned their names 4+ decades ago). Anyway, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago said something very interesting to King Nebuchadnezzar. They said, in Daniel 3:17, “Our God can save us.” And then verse 18 is an amazing statement from them. They said, “but if He doesn’t. . . ”

They Knew God:

There is only one reason they could talk like that. They KNEW the comfort of their God, your God, my God, and the God of the Mt Zion folks.

God is trustworthy my friend, even in the midst of tragedy.

If you are willing to trust Him, can I just remind you of something? Trusting God is like loving your spouse. You love your spouse because you choose to love them. You trust God because you choose to trust Him.

Will you allow me one more cheesy application?

My wife and I have this saying between us, “I love you, I just don’t like you right now.”

Here’s my application to our Mt Zion bus crash, “Lord, I trust you, I just don’t understand You right now.”

He, the God of comfort can be trusted, will you choose to trust Him right now?

Blessings,

POSTSCRIPT: I hope that you know that I have written these 5 day’s posts because I love you and want to help strengthen your faith. And if it appears that I have had any other motive, then I apologize because I didn’t communicate clearly enough.