Articles
Being a Child of God: Trust Him to Supply What You Need
“Jump! Jump! We’ll catch you!” say the firemen to the woman at the window many floors up in the burning building.
Those words probably bring to mind a very vivid picture from something you’ve seen or imagined from a reading in the past. What is implicit in those few short words is a very compelling description of what it means to trust.
When everything is going your way, it is easy to be convicted and sure of your principles and that you’ve made the right decisions. It is often only when some difficulty is placed in your path--financial burdens, major sickness or injury, etc.--that you begin to really consider or grasp your insufficiency. It is only when you absolutely must seek help from another that you have to reckon with the idea of trust.
In the imagery above, the scene is set with a primary character in a terrible situation with no possible means of providing a solution. There are others who have the preparation, skills and desire to come to her aid. The crux of the matter is that there is a choice to be made: will she continue to hesitate and hope for a different answer, or will she literally take a “leap of faith” and trust those below to save her?
While you don’t face life or death situations every day, you are presented with many choices and decisions. What am I going to do? How will I perform that task? With whom will I spend time? How are my choices today going to impact my life tomorrow/next week/month/year? It can become rather easy to get caught up in the concerns of this life--to be tempted to worry about how your choices will impact yourself and those you love and interact with each day.
Those who are children of God can look to Jesus for the answer to this dilemma: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink… do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself” (Matthew 6:25-34). This really is an encouraging passage--not just “there is enough trouble today, so don’t even bother worrying about tomorrow!” In between those thoughts, Jesus offers the reminder that God cares for all of the birds, flowers and every created thing to supply their need. You are a created being. He is going to supply exactly what you need!
In a similar context in Luke 11:11-13, Jesus--in the course of a discussion on prayer and its outcomes--talks about the care of a loving father. If your child asks for a fish, you won’t give him a scorpion! That’s ridiculous! I know I don’t always come up with the right answer or supply everything perfectly for my children, but I TRY. Part of that, though, is not always giving them what they ask for, but instead I try to respond to their plea with the thing that they truly need to fulfill their request.
As limited in perspective, experience, and even love as we are relative to our Heavenly Father, we make every effort to care for our children in the best way we know how. Think about the One who created you, this earth and everything we see and are aware of today. How much more perfectly and completely will He answer your request with what you need--even if you don’t know the best way to ask? You can, in every possible sense of the word, trust in Him. You can be fully assured that He wants nothing but the best for you, even if it doesn’t feel like it from your perspective while traveling through that dark, sunless valley. You can fear nothing knowing that He cares for you and is leading you through that difficulty to something better.
Looking back on your life, I’m sure you can identify situations that were painful or difficult at the time, but with the perspective of hindsight you also recognize that there was a lesson to be learned or some other outcome that you didn’t appreciate until later. Wherever you are in your journey; whether it’s a brightly lit path of many happy circumstances or one of those deep, challenging valleys; keep your eyes fixed on the Father and know that He loves you and you can trust Him fully to get you through.
