DayBreaks for 12/15/11 – Trusting God in the Nowhere, Trust #12

DayBreaks for 12/15/11 – Trusting God in the Nowhere, Trust #12

We need to learn to live in the Now/Here

From the DayBreaks Archive, dated 11/26/2001:

An Irishman, Fionn MacCumhaill, once asked his followers this question: “What’s the finest music in the world?”

“The cuckoo calling from the tree that is highest in the hedge,” cried his merry son.

“A good sound,” said Fionn.  “And Oscar,” he asked, “what is to your mind the finest of music?

“The top of music is the ring of a spear on a shield,” cried the stout lad.

“It is a good sound,” said Fionn.

“And the other champions told their delight: the belling of a stag across the water, the baying of a tuneful pack heard in the distance, the song of a lark, the laughter of a gleeful girl, or the whisper of a loved one.

“They are good sounds all,” said Fionn.

“Tell us, chief,” one ventured, “what do you think?

“The music of what is happening,” said the great Fionn, “that is the finest music in the world.”

Brennan Manning had this to say in Ruthless Trust: “The music of what IS happening can be heard only in the present moment, right NOW, right HERE.  Now/here spells nowhere.  To be fully present to whoever or whatever is immediately before us is to pitch a tent in the wilderness of Nowhere.  It is an act of radical trust, trust that God can be encountered at no other time and in no other place than the present moment.  Being fully present in the now is perhaps the premier skill of the spiritual life.”

What does he mean, and what does this have to do with trust?  I think he means that we don’t have yesterday any more – that’s gone and done with.  We don’t have any kind of promise of tomorrow.  We have only this day – this moment – and for the rest of life as well as for this fragile moment – we have to trust in Someone bigger and greater than ourselves.

Now/here can be a boring place, yet we often think we are fully engaged in life.  I think we’re wrong most of the time.  We aren’t often engaged with life at all.  If we were, how could we possibly be bored?  Hasn’t God himself promised to always be with us?  And if that is true, and if we are aware of His presence fully in the Now/here, how could we possibly find life boring?

But is this biblical?  I believe it is.  As Brennan Manning also wrote: “There is only now.  Thus Jesus counsels, “Do  not worry about your life, what you WILL eat or what you WILL drink or about your body, what you WILL wear” (Matt. 6:25).  Instead, Jesus says, “Look at the birds…look at the flowers…” (vs. 26).  After instructing us not to have a hissy fit about what may or may not happen tomorrow, he adds a bit of dark humor: “Today’s trouble is enough for today.”  (vs. 34)

As Manning suggests, one of the benefits of living in the Now/here is freedom of concern about our spiritual condition, the endless self-analysis of our past failings and faults, feelings of guilt and worry about the future.

It isn’t coincidental that Jesus’ counsels us to not worry about life, but to look at the birds and flowers.  Why is that “good medicine”?  Because we don’t live lives in the Now/here.  We are too wrapped up in the Sometime/there.  When Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem, he was the only one who heard the truth that the rocks and stones would cry out for his coming.  If David hadn’t been fully living in the Now/here, would he have written his psalms in all their richness and diversity?  When told to be on the lookout for God, Elijah learned that God wasn’t in the shrieking windstorm, the fire, or even in the earthquake that shook the cave in which he was hiding.  No, he was in the still, small whisper.  If he had not been living in the Now/here, he would have missed God’s voice.  It was because he lived in the Now/here that Jesus was moved with compassion on the masses, that he sensed the touch of the bleeding woman and that “he noticed” the two mites of the widow as they were given to God’s glory and His purposes.  Jesus noticed those things because he lived fully in the present.  How could he do that?  He trusted God not only with the future, but with the present.

Go outside sometime today and do yourself a huge favor.  Instead of thinking about where you are going later, or what you have to do when you go back inside, just live.  Don’t walk.  Just stand still, live – and notice what is happening in the Now/here.  Notice the song of the birds as they lift their voices in praise to their Maker – and as they trust Him for their food, shelter and water.  Feel the gentle breeze on your skin as God caresses you with this lovely reminder of His love.  Can you feel the warmth of the sun as it kisses your face?  Let it be a reminder of God’s kiss of love for you – His child.  Notice the colors of the world that surround you – the endlessly rich shades of glorious color – and see in it the manifold blessings of the God who delights to delight you – and who delights in you!  Let all these things – and everything else you notice – remind you that you can trust Him, for He loves you and has made these things for you and given you the ability in the Now/here to see and enjoy them.  

PRAYER: Let us live in the Now/here, this glorious moment filled with Your presence!!!!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2011 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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DayBreaks for 12/14/11 – Go On Not Knowing, Trust #11

DayBreaks for 12/14/11 – Go On Not Knowing, Trust #11

From the DayBreaks Archive, dated 11/22/2001:

Looking to the future with joy...because He Is, and He Knows what awaits!

How will the war on terrorism conclude itself?  Or will it?  I don’t know.  How will I spend the last years of my life?  I don’t know.  How will my children and grandchildren deal with life?  I don’t know.  How will the company that provides me employment do this year?  I don’t know.  Will I someday contract a debilitating or deadly disease?  I don’t know.  Will I ever be able to retire?  I don’t know.  What will we have for dinner next week?  I don’t know.  Will there be a next week?  I don’t know.

I don’t know much, do I?  But I dare say that when you get right down to it, you don’t know those things, either.  Sure, you may think you know what you’re having for dinner next week, but even that is up for grabs.  You may not be here to eat dinner.  You may be eating in the Father’s house before this week is over.  The things we don’t know far outweigh the things that we do know.  And that could lead us to feel very uncomfortable with our lives.  But it shouldn’t.  Not if we know the One who does know!

2 Corinthians 5:7 is a reminder: “We live by faith, not by sight.”  None of us has ever seen heaven.  None of us have ever seen God.  None of us have ever heard the heavenly choir of angels.  None of us have ever met or seen Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, Elijah, Moses, David, Peter, Paul or John.  None of us have walked down life’s pathway with clear signposts at every step in every instance that say: “This way to God’s perfect will for your life.”  None of us saw Christ walk through the dusty pathways of Galilee, nor did we see him in the upper room or on the road to Emmaus.  Yet we believe all these things – and that all these people lived and believed in the same God that we do.  We live, we walk, by faith – not by the things we have seen.

Our faith isn’t just that God is there.  That wouldn’t be good enough cause to follow him.  After all, we believe there is a real devil and we don’t follow him.  The difference?  We trust that God is good and that the devil is evil.  We believe in both, but we trust one and not the other because of the evidence of history.  We trust that One wants only what is best, while the other wants to kill.

Perhaps no one said it better than Mary Gardner Brainard:

“So I go on, not knowing,

I would not, if I might

I would rather walk in the dark with God

Than go alone in the light.

I would rather walk with Him by Faith

Than walk alone by sight.”

I think she captured the essence of trust.  I really don’t think I want to see or know the answers to all the things that I don’t know.  But trust tells me that it is OK not to know and that it is OK not to fear, because the One who knows all has said it will be all right.  What if I should die in a high-jacked airliner, or in a collapsing tower, or via a biological or chemical agent?  It is OK – because “…even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.” 

The Trustworthy One says, “Give me every day of your past, give me your today, give me all your tomorrows – and I will give you My eternity.”   

PRAYER: Thank you for freeing us from the fear of the past, the present and the future!!!!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2011 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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DayBreaks for 12/13/11 – Why Jesus Loves Us, Trust #10

DayBreaks for 12/13/11 – Why Jesus Loves Us, Trust #10

Loving like the Father loves...

From the DayBreaks Archive, dated 11/21/2001:

Perhaps the thing that makes it hardest for us to trust Jesus is that we don’t understand his motivation.  Why would, or should, he love someone like me?  It just doesn’t seem to make sense and since others have abandoned their affections for us when we have failed them or hurt them or let them down, we are tempted to think that Jesus will do likewise.  I suppose that as long as we are here on this earth, it is somewhat presumptuous for us to try to explain his motives.  But when Jesus explains why he loves us as he does, it takes all of our guessing out of the picture and gives us certainty – and certainty is central to the concept of trust.

“Why was Jesus attracted to the unattractive, why did he desire the undesirable and love those deemed unlovely by human standards?  Why did he love all those losers, failures and no-accounts?  Because his Father does.  ‘I tell you most solemnly, the son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees the father doing: and whatever the father does the son does, too.’”  (Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust)

Get it?   Why was Jesus drawn to the lowly of the world?  Because God is drawn to them – the son only can do what He saw the Father doing, so if Jesus was drawn to the lowly and humble, it is because God was first drawn to the lowly and humble.  If Jesus loved the unlovable while he was here on earth, if he loved the sinners that surrounded him, we can only conclude that he loves us when we are unlovable and even through we are sinners, because it is what God does and Jesus can only do what he has seen the Father doing – and he never changes, he is the same yesterday, today and forever.  That means that he loved you and me yesterday, today and forever.  If he ever loved us, he loves us now and always will!

When you slip up – he still loves you.  When you do some act of kindness – he loves you the same.  Learn to rest in his love and trust comes a bit more easily.

“If you feel the call of the spirit, then be holy with all your soul, with all your heart, and with all your strength.  If, however, because of human weakness, you cannot be holy, then be perfect with all your soul, with all your heart, and with all your strength. 

“But if you cannot be perfect because of the vanity of your life, then be good with all your soul…yet, if you cannot be good because of the trickery of the Evil One, then be wise with all your soul…

“If, in the end, you can neither be holy, nor perfect, nor good, or wise because of the weight of your sins, then carry this weight before God and surrender your life to his divine mercy.

“If you do this, without bitterness, with all humility, and with a joyous spirit due to the tenderness of a God who loves the sinful and ungrateful, then you will begin to feel what it is to be wise, you will learn what it is to be good, and you will slowly aspire to be perfect, and finally you will long to be holy.”   

PRAYER: For showing us how the Father loves, we love you…and we thank you!!!!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2011 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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DayBreaks for 12/12/11 – The Far Side of Trust, #9

DayBreaks for 12/12/11 – The Far Side of Despair, Trust #9

From the DayBreaks Archive, dated 11/20/2001:

There is a caution about trust that must be stated in order to be completely fair about the topic.  Sometimes, we can confuse trust with presumption.  Presumption can corrupt trust and it works this way: we become presumptuous when we assign to God the job of doing for us what we should be doing for ourselves.  Brennan Manning gives this illustration of the problem: “One of the wise old birds of the AA fellowship, Father Joe Martin, uses the following illustration: Imagine a man who comes and says… ‘Father Martin, I want to become a great heart surgeon like Dr. Michael DeBakey.  I believe that all power in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus.  So lay your hands on me and ask Jesus to infuse the knowledge and skill of DeBakey.  Then I’ll start my practice.’  Old Joe blinks in disbelief and says, ‘Son, go to medical school, and after you have finished your residency, specialize in coronary surgery.  Then apply to a hospital, attach yourself to one of the surgical wizards for several years, and maybe in thirty years you will arrive at the premier level.’ 

“Similarly, Father Martin says, picture a guy who comes and says, ‘…I am a hopeless alcoholic.  I’ve been drinking a quart of vodka, a gallon of Chablis, and a case of beer every day for the last twenty years.  I’ve read a lot of the miracle stories in the Bible lately, and I know that Jesus is the master of the impossible.  So pray over me and tell Jesus to set me free from bondage.’  Father Martin responds, ‘I’ve got a better idea.  Go to Alcoholics Anonymous, attend ninety meetings in ninety days, find yourself a sponsor, diligently work the Twelve Steps under his guidance, and read the Big Book every day.  In other words, do the hard work.’”

In short, we expect God to intervene miraculously on our behalf.  “The theological arguments that support an interventionary God are many and varied.  Frequently people report that they have experienced a physical cure or an inner healing.  And yet, as John Shea writes, ‘one brutal historical fact remains – Jesus is mercilessly nailed to the cross and despite the Matthean boast, twelve legions of angels did not save him from that hour.  No cop-out redemption theories that say God wanted it that way explain the lonely and unvisited death of God’s Son.  This side of the grave Jesus is left totally invalidated by the Lord of heaven and earth.  Trust in God does not presume that God will intervene. 

“Often trust begins on the far side of despair.  When all human resources are exhausted, when the craving for reassurances is stifled, when we forego control, when we cease trying to manipulate God and demystify Mystery, then – at our wits’ end – trust happens within us, and the unwanted cry, ‘Abba, into your hands I commend my spirit,’ surges from the heart.”

Trust truly does often begin on the far side of despair when we have reached the end of ourselves (and then some).  Trust doesn’t presume God will intervene (at least not in the ways we may think He should).  God has already done the most important intervention on our behalf.  Anything else will be anticlimactic.  If He’s already done the greatest thing possible for us, why won’t we trust that He’ll take care of the smaller, “easier” things, too?  

PRAYER: Help us to truly trust, and not to presume, upon You!!!!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2011 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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DayBreaks for 12/08/11 – Giving Up Control, Trust #8

DayBreaks for 12/08/11 – Giving Up Control, Trust #9

How we love to control things!!!!

From the DayBreaks Archive, dated 11/19/2001:

Being in control.  Isn’t that something that we admire in ourselves and in others?  Most of us men grew up with the idea that a real man is in control of his emotions, if not his actions.  I was raised at a time when it was considered honorable for men to be able to not get teary-eyed (or even start to choke up) in public.  Certainly, any man who lost control of his actions was a weakling, and any man who hit a woman or child was considered a real jerk.  In business, we admire those who seem to be in control.  We admire those who, in times of great adversity, can remain in seeming control of the situation and rise above it.

But when it comes to spiritual things, we need to realize that “being in control” is not something we can do.  When you consider what Scripture teaches us about control, you begin to realize that there is little or nothing that we can control.  We can talk about going somewhere tomorrow to do business or have fun, but we can’t make it happen and we’re given this warning: (James 4:13-16) “13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”)

Do you see the point?  God is trying to get it into our thick heads that we can do nothing, not even go somewhere, unless HE wills it.  There isn’t a man or a woman alive who could do anything unless God is willing for them to do it.  But it is hard for us to get to the point that we’re at peace with that degree of control over our lives.  We believe that there is no one and nothing that knows what is better for us than we ourselves.  But we’re wrong!

“Today I double up with laughter whenever I realize that I have started ‘managing’ my life once more – something we all do with astounding regularity.  The illusion of control is truly pathetic, but it is also hilarious.  Describing what I most need out of life, carefully calculating my next move, and generally allowing my autonomous self to run amuck inflates my sense of self-importance and reduces the God of my incredible journey to the role of spectator on the sidelines.  It is only the wisdom and perspective gleaned from an hour of silent prayer each morning that prevents me from running for CEO of the universe.  As Henri Nouwen once remarked, ‘One of the most arduous spiritual tasks is that of giving up control and allowing the Spirit of God to lead our lives.”  (Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust)

Until we realize that our ability to control our lives is merely an illusion, not real at all, we are doomed to be filled with self-importance.  We are doomed to the sin of pride in thinking that we are God and can control our environment.  We are doomed to be responsible for everything, and God is alleviated of all responsibility for what happens.  Is that how you really want it?  Not me.  I’ve realized now that I may have lots of opinions about what is good for me, but that I really don’t know what is best for me.  I’d have to be God in order to know such things because unless I know everything, unless I can understand and consider every possible factor (internal and external) and combination of factors, there would be no way that I can really know what is best.

Do you really think that you know better than God?  Do you really think that in ANYTHING you know better than God what is best for you?  Let the knowledge of God’s omniscience lead you to trust him more.  Every little bit of control you surrender to Him is a testimony to growing trust.  

PRAYER: We release our hold on the reins of our life, Father, and commit ourselves into Your hand!!!!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2011 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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DayBreaks for 12/07/11 – The Dogged Fidelity of Jesus, Trust #7

DayBreaks for 12/07/11 – The Dogged Fidelity of Jesus, Trust #7

From the DayBreaks Archive, dated 11/15/2001:

“My first publisher told me the story of a summer afternoon when he was driving along the New Jersey Turnpike.  One hundred yards ahead in the same lane was a Lincoln Town Car.  Tom was shocked when he saw the right rear door of the Lincoln, still moving at full speed, swing open.  The passenger threw a collie onto the pavement.  The dog hit the concrete and rolled into a ditch.  Bleeding profusely, the collie got up and started to run after the car and the owner who had cruelly abandoned him.  His relentless faithfulness was not conditioned or diminished by the abuse and callous disregard of his master.

“The dogged fidelity of Jesus in the face of our indifference to his affection and our rampant ingratitude for his faithfulness – he is ALWAYS faithful, for he cannot disown his own self (2 Tim. 2:11) – is a mystery of such mind-bending magnitude that the intellect buckles and theology bows in its presence.  Humbly acknowledging our limitations, we are driven to the fervent prayer, ‘Lord, I do believe!  Help my lack of trust!’” – Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust

How many times have I hurled Jesus out of the back-seat of my life so I could pursue my own roadmap for my life?  Of course, Jesus shouldn’t have been relegated to the back seat of my life – he should have been at the steering wheel, but that’s beside the point.  The point is simply this: like the dog longed to be with his owner even after being so badly abused, Jesus longs for our company.  In fact, he longs for it so much that he chases us down over and over and over again.  Is it any wonder that he has been called “the hound of heaven”?  Forever loyal.  Forever loving.  Ever chasing after us when we leave him behind.

It begs the question: if Jesus has that much fidelity to us, that much faithfulness, how can we believe that he doesn’t love us enough to care for us?  How can we believe that he would do anything that was harmful to us?  It is us that throws him out of our lives – not the other way around.  That isn’t the way God operates.

2 Tim 2:11-13 – “11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him.  If we disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”  

PRAYER: Thank You for never giving up on us, for pursuing us with an endless love!!!!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2011 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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DayBreaks for 12/06/11 – Trust Defined, #6

DayBreaks for 12/06/11 – Trust Defined, #6

From the DayBreaks Archive, dated 11/14/2001:

“Faith arises from the personal experience of Jesus as Lord.  Hope is reliance on the promise of Jesus, accompanied by the expectation of fulfillment.  Trust is the winsome wedding of faith and hope.”  (Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust)

In the same book quoted above, Brennan Manning shared a story that Dennis Rainey had told him about a missionary family that was on a state-side furlough.  Through the kindness of a friend, they were staying at a mountain cabin on a lake.  The day was warm and the father was puttering in the garage, the mother was inside the house and the kids, ages 4, 7 and 12, were playing on the lawn.  The youngest, Billy, was fascinated by the aluminum boat tied up at the dock that extended from the property.  Occupied in their own play, the older children didn’t notice when Billy wandered across the grass and out to the end of the dock to look at the boat.

The sound of the splash as Billy fell into the eight-foot deep water was their alarm.  The 12-year old screamed as she realized her failure to watch over her little brother.  Sensing immediately the problem, the father came running from the garage and down the dock, diving into the water to look for his son.  Frantically, he searched the murky water – to no avail.  He rose to the surface, gasping for breath, and dove back down again only to be frustrated in his attempt to find his boy.  A third time he filled his lungs and dove down and to his great relief, he found Billy about four feet under water with his arms and legs wrapped around the wooden piling.  Prying his hands and legs loose, the father grabbed Billy and shot to the surface.

Once they were safely ashore and they had caught their breath, the father asked, “Billy, what were you doing down there?”  The little one replied, “Just waitin’ on you, Dad, just waitin’ on you.”

“Young as he was, the boy had no doubt had a history with his father – a history of feeling safe, protected, accepted and loved.  He knew from experience that his father delighted in him.  Naturally the boy had a healthy, positive self-image.  He had come to know that he was loved, and he had felt knowledge of his father’s faithfulness.  Cooler heads might judge the boy presumptuous and assert that he had showed reckless disregard for his safety.  He should have taken control of his desperate situation, they would say.  And surely there is a measure of truth here.  However, when taking control becomes our routine response to troubled relationships and worrisome problems, God is not our co-pilot; He’s not even aboard.”  (Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust)

Young Billy had some personal experience that led him to have faith in his father.  It led him to hope that his father would rescue him, and he figured it would be easier for his father to find him if he stayed put.  Billy’s trust wasn’t disappointed.

How much better of a father is God than Billy’s dad?  Have you fallen into the deep water and are desperately in need of fresh air in the lungs of your spirit?  If you believe God is transcendent, know that He hears every splash, He hears your every heartbeat as you wait for His rescue.  And His rescue will come – for He is the trustworthy One.

PRAYER: Thank You for rescuing us over and over again!!!!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2011 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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DayBreaks for 12/02/11 – Infinite Yet Intimate, Trust #5

DayBreaks for 12/02/11 – Infinite Yet Intimate, Trust #5

Infinite God, Intimate God

From the DayBreaks Archive, dated 11/13/2001:

How do we get our arms around this concept of a God who is trustworthy?  How can we begin to understand His glory?  It is especially difficult because throughout the story of salvation, “God has revealed his presence but never his essence.  Since the Holy One is ultimately unknowable, we can only stutter and stammer about an omnipotent deity who, with effortless ease, created a star 264 trillion miles away.”  (Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning)

Part of our problem may lay in the fact that we have, as modern men and women in an “enlightened” culture, minimized the transcendence (“otherness”) of God by trying to buddy-up to Him like we would our best friend.  Don’t get me wrong – God wants to be our best friend, but when we overemphasize that aspect of God, we do so at the serious expense of recognition of His greatness, His “above-and-beyondness”, His incomprehensible immenseness.  What is the net result of this?  God has become too much like us in our minds – and our ability to trust in Him is the casualty of this mind-war.  The reason should be clear: if God becomes too much like our friends and loved ones, then He, like they, will fail us, too.  In the Bible, when people realized that they were in the Presence, they fell on their faces and worshipped, remaining quiet before the God of the entire universe.  In our churches today, studies show that we can’t stand for 15 seconds of silence to pass as we contemplate His greatness – we need some noise!  We pay too much attention to ourselves, to the presence of absence of happiness in our hearts.

How do we get such a distorted idea of the relationship between God and humans?  Manning wrote: “From her parents a child learns of a deity who strongly disapproves of disobedience, hitting one’s brother and sisters and telling lies.  When the little one goes to school, she realizes that God shares the fussy concerns of her teachers.  At church, she learns that God has another set of priorities: she is told that he is displeased that the congregation is not growing numerically, that irregular attendance is the norm, and that his recurring fiscal demands are not being met.  When she reaches high school, she discovers that God’s interests have expanded to an obsession with sex, drinking and drugs.  After 12 years of Christian indoctrination at home, school and church, the teenager realizes with resentment that God has been used as a sanction by all those who have been responsible for her discipline – as when Mommy and Daddy, at their wits’ end over her mischievous antics as a toddler, alluded to ‘the eternal spanking’.  Through this indoctrination, God is unwittingly associated with fear in most young hearts…Clearly, the God of our imagination is not worthy of trust, adoration, praise, reverence or gratitude, and yet, if we are unwilling to address the issue of transcendence, that is the only deity we know.  The loss of transcendence has left in its wake the flotsam of distrustful, cynical Christians, angry at a capricious God, and the jetsam of smug bibliolatrists who claim to know precisely what God is thinking and exactly what He plans to do.”

In order for us to learn to trust God in the middle of the most awful circumstances that life can throw at us, we must not lose sight of God’s transcendence!  Job understood the difference when he said in chapter 9 verse 32: “He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court.”  God Himself described this transcendence in Isaiah 46:9-10 – “9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.  I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”

Struggling to trust God?  It is true that He is as close as your heartbeat, but it is equally true that He is not like you, your spouse, or your best friend.  He is “other” – so far beyond in terms of glory, capability, power, knowledge, faithfulness, loyalty, love, trustworthiness – that we need to set Him free from the limitations of our imaginations so we can begin to recognize Him and trust Him for what He truly is, for what He does, and for what He is doing in our lives.

PRAYER: In our pain, let us turn to Your glory and bow in simple, humble trust.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2011 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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DayBreaks for 12/01/11 – The Enormous Difficulty, Trust #4

DayBreaks for 12/01/11 – The Enormous Difficult, Trust #4

While Galen is preparing to move (and moving!) we’ll be publishing from the DayBreaks archive.  New DayBreaks will resume approx. 12/15/11.

From the DayBreaks archive, dated 11/12/01:

“Sure, Galen.  It’s easy for you to write about trust.  God hasn’t hit you as hard as He hit Job.  And you’ve not had it as bad as I have.”

You’re probably right.  I’m sure that I haven’t had nearly as tough of a time as Job did.  But that doesn’t mean that I don’t understand what pain is.  It doesn’t mean that what I have experienced in my life hasn’t led me at times to question the reality of God – or at least His goodness.  Pain hurts – whether great or small.  And I have had those times when He just didn’t seem to give a hoot about me as evidenced by His utter and absolute silence, which (at the time) I was inclined to interpret as His lack of power (or even worse, lack of willingness towards me).  As Louis Dupre wrote: “The sheer magnitude of evil that our age witnessed in death camps, nuclear warfare and internecine tribal or racial conflicts has not raised the question of how can God tolerate so much evil, but rather how the more tangible reality of evil still allows the possibility of God’s existence.”  Well said.

You’ve probably heard the Christian platitudes from well-meaning comforters (I fear too often we are comforters like Job’s “friends”!) but they ring empty when times are the toughest.  They don’t bring comfort to the grief-stricken wife who just learned her husband and 3 children were killed by a drunk driver.  Even assurances of eternal life offer little solace at that moment.  Anne Donovan, a Christian woman who gave birth to a stillborn child, was accosted by a friend who recited a sugary poem with the gruesome message that God had looked around heaven, decided it wasn’t quite bright enough, so He picked a beautiful flower – her stillborn baby – to fix it.  Donovan said later, “I just clenched my teeth to keep from saying something I’d regret.”

Brennan Manning wrote in Ruthless Trust: “The enormous challenge of trust is exacerbated for those in a state of depression, those trapped in a loveless marriage, hanging together for the sake of the children but seeing no way out, those who long for a friend but seem condemned to loneliness, those who cannot make a success of anything to which they turn their hands…

“And the suffering—always we come back to the suffering.  How is trust to be conjured by the 3 million refugees who water the roads and rice paddies with their tears; those who live in countries where to be black is not to be beautiful but to be bastard; the 20,000 homeless living in the streets of Calcutta who build little fires to cook scraps of scavenged goods, defecate against curbstones and curl up against a wall to sleep; those who are destroying their bodies and souls with alcohol and heroin; those whose blood reddens the earth from Kosovo to Northern Ireland to the streets of your hometown…

“After Saul/Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, Jesus said to Ananias, ‘I myself will show him how much he himself has to suffer for my name’ (Acts 9:16).  ANYONE GOD USES SIGNIFICANTLY IS ALWAYS DEEPLY WOUNDED.”

What was Manning’s conclusion in that chapter of his book?  “Philosophical speculation and rational reflection suffer shipwreck on the shoals of the enormous difficulty.  The only territory left to explore rivets our gaze on the vast, unbounded ocean of the glory of God.”

Sadly, it is hard to see the glory of God when you can’t seem to see Him at work at all.  But the truth remains true regardless: it is only when we begin to contemplate, through great effort and tears, the nature and glory of God, that we find there is no other alternative that makes sense but to surrender to Him in trust.

PRAYER: In our pain, let us turn to Your glory and bow in simple, humble trust.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2011 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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