9-6-2024
I presume you are aware of this already, but if you’re not, I want to let you know that there is an election coming up in less than 2 months. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that the past few election cycles have been filled with anger and hatred and verbal pushing and shoving. But here’s the thing: God didn’t ask us to trust in government or presidential nominees. He asked us to trust Him.
One of the things we say around LifePoint Church is, “It’s easy to forget in the dark what we learned in the light.” Our country is in a dark time politically and spiritually. There have always been democrats and republicans and independents and others, and there have always been differences of opinions, but what we’re experiencing at this moment in history is ugly. And while Christians should be involved in politics, Scripture teaches us that we are to do everything – EVERYTHING – in love. That means: We must put our trust in God.
I’m not just talking about the easy things. I’m talking about with everything. But as you know, our current culture challenges that every day, and because of that, sometimes it’s easier to talk about trusting in God than it is to actually trust in Him. Maybe you’re like so many who say, “I love God and I believe in God, but, I still feel so uneasy about the future”. When we look at our country at this moment, there’s a lot to feel uneasy about, isn’t there? There’s the tension all over our country. This leads many to play the, “What if” game. What if so-and-so happens? What if the wrong person gets elected into office? And you get to determine whom the “wrong person” is for you, right? What if I lose my job? What if I get sick, or someone that I love gets sick? What if we have another pandemic or some other crisis and I have to homeschool our kids for the rest of our lives? It’s easy to play the what if game. But take a look at what God says to us:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways [the big ways AND the small ways] acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5 & 6, NIV)
The word acknowledge, in the Hebrew means, “to know”. “In all your ways know Him, and He’ll make your paths straight”. In all your ways, know Him. When you know Him on the mountain tops, you trust Him in the valleys. When you know Him in the good times, you trust Him in the bad times. The way you know Him is to stay close to Him, and that’s a day by day by day walk with Him. You hold on to Him. It’s not just being in close in proximity, but holding on to Him and to not letting go. But here’s the key. In order to hold on to God, you have to let go of whatever else you were previously clinging to.
In order to trust in Him, you stop limiting yourself; you stop leaning on your own understanding. And if we’re honest, that’s just hard. But when you get to the place where you let go of your own understanding, your own plans, your own desire, your own will, your own strategy, your own place of comfort, you discover the God who will never fail you. You cling to the faithfulness and the goodness of the only one who really is good.
So trust God and hang in there, friends…….I’m praying for you!