Recently I had the opportunity to spend four and a half months on the other side of the world. My heart was blessed as scriptures came to mind filled with the promises of God, to face every challenge that came my way.
The aromas, the tastes, the textures, the scenes, the animals, and the people are all vivid, scenery memories that I relive often. There is one particular awareness that gripped my attention early in my journey. The realization that many, perhaps even the majority of people, on that side of the world, live in a day by day mentality. One small example of the simplicity of a day by day life style is the daily trips to market and the daily milk deliveries.
As I would show up at the market to do my weekly shopping, I realized very quickly this was not the norm. I tried very hard to go to the store at odd times so as not to frustrate the customers behind me, with their daily rations. Some would take matters into their own hands and push their items in the clerk's face ahead of my things, insisting they pay first. I never took this hardly as I truly sympathized with their plight.
It is human nature to mathematically calculate, in an effort to avoid uncertainty in life. In western culture we are literally obsessed with preparedness plans. We dictate to God what we want our futures to look like. But I have to ask myself often, where is the childlike trust? Imagine that little infant who never doubts that the mommy will bring milk. A baby does not worry; a baby just trusts that the milk will come when they are hungry. They do not calculate all of the hurdles and hardships, they simply leave it to mommy. When we trust God we are walking in humility. I love the passage found in Psalm 131 and remind myself of those truths related to humble, childlike trust quite often.
If I remain loyal to Jesus there will be a sense of calm in my life. See 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. This calm is not a result of having everything figured out, but because I know with certainty that HE does. He is the only one that can speak peace to my heart. My eternity is secure because of God's gift of salvation that I have received. But I can also know that I am safe and secure today because He is with me and promised that He would never leave me. (Hebrews 13:5) He fills my life with his hope, true purpose, and joy!
"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
No comments:
Post a Comment