In God We Trust?
I purposely added the question mark at the end of the title of this short devotional after thinking about the statement, “In God we trust.”
If you stop to think about it for a moment, there are literally hundreds of things we place our trust in on a daily basis.
When we go to bed, we trust that our smart watches will wake us up at the time programmed. Whenever we get on a plane, we trust that the ground crew and pilot have performed their procedural pre-flight inspection. There are a number of subconscious habits that we do every single day concerning placing our trust in something without ever realizing it.
Why, then, is it oftentimes so difficult to consciously put our trust in God?
After thinking about this question myself, I began exploring reasons why I find it difficult to always put my trust in God. You might relate. You might not.
I sometimes find it difficult to put my trust in God because it requires me to give up total control of my circumstances. Nobody ever has total control of their circumstances, but I like to think that I have everything under control.
I sometimes find it difficult to put my trust in God because I can’t figure out exactly what He’s doing behind the scenes. I’m the kind of person who wants to be awake during my own surgery in order to “instruct” the surgeons.
I sometimes find it difficult to put my trust in God once I have discovered His determination of a matter and I simply do not like it. That one can be a hockey puck sized pill to swallow.
I must declaratively confess that God has never let me down, and His determined will for my life has worked out like a masterpiece every time I’ve gotten out of the way and allowed Him to do His handiwork.
John H. Sammis was a Brooklyn businessman and Presbyterian minister who wrote over 100 hymns; most of them songs of trust and songs of obedience. In 1887 he published a hymn called Trust and Obey. The well-known refrain in that song contains the words, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
Another songwriter who lived about 3000 years ago, David the Psalmist, wrote these powerful lyrics, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7).
I can imagine the crescendo rising from the bronze horns of David’s time as this song is played by the orchestra. I could feel the percussion in my chest as the percussionists apply a bit more pressure with every rising note. I can detect the mood being artistically threaded through the room by the stringed instruments as a powerful, well-tuned singer’s voice declares in majestic harmony, “We trust in the name of the Lord our God!”
May we sing this refrain throughout the week and beyond as we choose to trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Pastor Adam
If you stop to think about it for a moment, there are literally hundreds of things we place our trust in on a daily basis.
When we go to bed, we trust that our smart watches will wake us up at the time programmed. Whenever we get on a plane, we trust that the ground crew and pilot have performed their procedural pre-flight inspection. There are a number of subconscious habits that we do every single day concerning placing our trust in something without ever realizing it.
Why, then, is it oftentimes so difficult to consciously put our trust in God?
After thinking about this question myself, I began exploring reasons why I find it difficult to always put my trust in God. You might relate. You might not.
I sometimes find it difficult to put my trust in God because it requires me to give up total control of my circumstances. Nobody ever has total control of their circumstances, but I like to think that I have everything under control.
I sometimes find it difficult to put my trust in God because I can’t figure out exactly what He’s doing behind the scenes. I’m the kind of person who wants to be awake during my own surgery in order to “instruct” the surgeons.
I sometimes find it difficult to put my trust in God once I have discovered His determination of a matter and I simply do not like it. That one can be a hockey puck sized pill to swallow.
I must declaratively confess that God has never let me down, and His determined will for my life has worked out like a masterpiece every time I’ve gotten out of the way and allowed Him to do His handiwork.
John H. Sammis was a Brooklyn businessman and Presbyterian minister who wrote over 100 hymns; most of them songs of trust and songs of obedience. In 1887 he published a hymn called Trust and Obey. The well-known refrain in that song contains the words, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
Another songwriter who lived about 3000 years ago, David the Psalmist, wrote these powerful lyrics, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7).
I can imagine the crescendo rising from the bronze horns of David’s time as this song is played by the orchestra. I could feel the percussion in my chest as the percussionists apply a bit more pressure with every rising note. I can detect the mood being artistically threaded through the room by the stringed instruments as a powerful, well-tuned singer’s voice declares in majestic harmony, “We trust in the name of the Lord our God!”
May we sing this refrain throughout the week and beyond as we choose to trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Pastor Adam
Posted in Pastor Adam Gomez