“A Quick Thrust of Trust"

The title of this post is a quote from Sarah Johnson’s book, Jesus Calling.  I’m a sucker for alliterative phrases and this one caught my eye as I read her Biblical nudges recently.

The whole idea of trusting Jesus every second of your life is, as Johnson points out, not a suggestion, but rather a command. (“Don’t worry about tomorrow” Matthew 6:14). I love the idea of how God created Time from the very beginning—you can check out Genesis 1 re: Day and Night-- and in addition, for we obsesive Westerners in the 21^st century, He has even divided Time into hours, minutes, seconds (and you can carry this further if you so wish).

All of this discussion about our lifetime and worry boils down to the idea of Jesus and His strength and grace being able to safeguard us moment by moment. But He’s not going to show us any more of the future than the moment we are living in right now. Think of it as a protective shield. Don’t we worry enough about the future moments as it is? What if we really knew the future moments of our lives on earth? Talk about the worry factor escalating through the roof!

As I mused on God’s moment by moment there- ness (Presence), I was reminded of the time when the children of Israel were wandering in the desert for those 40 years. God, in His mercy and grace, didn’t kill off His disobedient children immediately (just let natural attrition do it), but instead, He sent manna from heaven—every day—just enough for each family for that day. The rule was if you gathered more than you needed, you discovered the excess amount had rotted. And, when the Sabbath day came around (see how Time is already in use?), adequate manna appeared to feed your family for two days because no one was supposed to work on the Sabbath.

Jesus personally told His disciples as well as teaching the crowds who gathered around Him, not to worry—about anything. It won’t “add to your stature”, i.e., make you taller, more attractive, or wealthier (Matthew, chapter 6). He is capable of taking care of our needs and we may be surprised at how many desires He will also fulfill.  All because He loves us.  That kind of love makes it easy to trust Him--with all of our moments