I WONDER AS I WANDER. . . "Trust Me!"
I write this article several weeks before Election Day. Over and over we have heard political ads where the candidate urges, “Trust me!” or the opposite negative ad, “Don’t trust my opponent!” We’re also in a period when our money-market funds and the stock market have vacillated wildly, and when our trust in our economic system has reason to be questioned. You can probably add to this your own instances when trust in a person, in an institution, even in yourself has been challenged or broken. Perhaps this is the time for us to recall again God’s invitation for us to trust God, for the present and for the future.
In mid-August, while I was in a week-long silent retreat, I was drawn again and again to a passage from the prophet Isaiah:
For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. (Isa. 30:15a)
The prophet spoke those words to people in a desperate situation, fearful about their future, uncertain about how to proceed, and planning feverishly for ways to escape their present circumstances.
While I was not feeling desperate, I was aware that of several challenges facing me: a family concern, awareness that I had committed myself to two more years of service as interim bishop, consciousness of the responsibility of providing leadership for this visioning of and bringing to new life new conferences in multiple directions; recognition that there was a sense of uncertainty in the national scene financially that could impact not only me but also the churches; knowing that some congregations are struggling for survival with little sense of missional vision.
And the word from God that I kept hearing over and over in that week of prayer was, “Trust me!” The same invitation has returned in the two months since the retreat, with a growing attentiveness to the times when I am tempted to become anxious and trust in my own ingenuity, or to rush into energetic striving – without careful thought.
Someone has said that we really are “functional atheists,” trusting more in ourselves than in God, trusting in leaders to rescue us rather than trusting in God’s leadership. So what does it mean to pay attention to God’s invitation: “Trust me!”?
That verse from Isaiah gives us some strong clues: “in returning and rest you shall be saved.” Eugene Peterson, in The Message, paraphrases it this way: “Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.” The reference to “rest” reminds me also of the commandment to “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.” The purpose of the Sabbath is to remind us that God is in control, not us. It is to be a time of intentional rest, of trusting in God, of finding time to stop our frantic pace of survival-struggle and listening to God’s quiet Spirit nudging us and providing us with direction. It is a time to find space for turning our attention from ourselves and our worries and toward the God who has created us and made us whole in Jesus Christ. (As one whose “work” is regularly on the Christian Sabbath, Sunday, I have found it necessary to find another day of the week for this kind of focus.)
Peterson paraphrases the second part of God’s invitation as “Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on me – the very thing you’ve been unwilling to do.” We’ve been taught in our culture to depend on ourselves, and not to depend on others, to keep busy even when our busyness is not productive.
So how, in addition to Sabbath, do we demonstrate that trust? Certainly daily time for reading scripture and prayer is a way for regular mini-sabbaths. Our coming to worship is another way of expressing our trust in God. Particularly when we come to the Lord’s Table we acknowledge that we need the nurture that God provides through Jesus Christ, that we need the community in order to be whole and grow in holiness and in trust.
Other spiritual disciplines and practices also draw our attention to God’s invitation: engaging in individual and corporate Bible study; spending time and effort, either alone or with others, in ministries of compassion and mercy as well as in seeking justice and peace; tithing – giving at least 10% of our income to the church and to outreach in Christ’s name; connecting with a small group that helps us to reflect on where God has been active in our lives.
Seeking to grow in trust for and dependence on God, God’s goodness and mercy and grace, is not just sitting back and being passive. It is actively opening ourselves to God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit, and following that guidance. Then, after we have followed, we return to reflecting again on where we have seen God’s presence in the other or in the situation, and ask again where God is leading us.
God doesn’t promise to provide us with an easy road. But God does promise us to be with us on the journey – if we trust! In the midst of anxious times, I invite you to join me in saying to God, “I trust you! Show me how to trust you more.”