The other day, my husband and I were praying together—a morning habit we started not long after he retired. As he was praying and thanking God for coming to earth at Christmas, he gave me much to ponder. I’m one of those people whose thoughts can take them in a variety of places, and this time it took me to thoughts about the vulnerability and trust of Jesus.
I’ll try to explain.
God asks us to trust Him. I don’t know about you, but trust is hard for me. I mean, I can trust God with my eternal future, but everyday worries? That’s not quite so easy. All of us like to take control of our life. If we are honest, we don’t like someone else telling us what to do. We don’t like words like surrender or submit, even when those words are applied to God. Maybe especially when they are applied to God.
All of us like to be autonomous. Despite the fact that God created us, we don’t like the fact that He has the right to control our world. He does. But that doesn’t mean we want Him to.
Jesus was the exact opposite.
Of course, we could argue that Jesus was both human and God, so trusting His Father wasn’t hard for Him. But was it? I’ve been thinking about what it might have been like for Jesus as He agreed to set aside His glory and allow His rights as God to be put on hold and then step into the womb of a human teenage girl. Have you ever thought about what that might have felt like?
When Jesus was forming in His mother’s womb, He was completely vulnerable and dependent on her. When He was born, He was completely dependent (as all infants are) on His parents. Had He discussed this trust with His Father before He came to earth?
What hit me most was that Jesus ALWAYS trusted His Father in Heaven. And His Father always came through for Him. He protected Him by warning his earthly father Joseph in dreams to move to Egypt and then to Nazareth. He guided Him by His Spirit throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry. Jesus trusted Him in every situation, even when He pleaded for a way, any other way than the cross He faced. Even then, He submitted His trust to His Father, knowing that His Father had His back, His best interests, and the overall good plan for humanity in mind.
I’ve thought about Jesus’ perfect trust a lot. I mean, that trust had to have begun in eternity past for Jesus to submit to the plan His Father had to save humanity from its’ sin and to destroy the works of the devil and defeat death.
I cannot imagine what that conversation might have been like between the members of the Godhead, but I do know (from Scripture) that Jesus submitted to do His Father’s will. And doing that will meant trust. Total and complete, absolute trust.
I don’t trust God like that.
I mean, do any of us truly have that perfect trust in God?
Jesus knew His Father far better than we do, obviously. So perhaps trust came easier for Him. We trust Him though we have not seen Him. Jesus knew what He had with the Father before time began. But He also knew what He was stepping into when He agreed to come to earth. He knew what awaited Him at the cross. And He knew His Father would not abandon Him to the grave. He trusted His Father even in death to defeat that ancient foe and set Him free from its power.
And I wondered…can I learn that kind of trust? I want to. I have a tendency to worry though. To be anxious when I’m waiting for something or someone. And the urge to seek control rather than wait on God to act. To wait on God for answers. To wait on God to show up and deal with whatever I am facing. And if He doesn’t change my circumstances, can I trust Him to walk with me as I navigate through them?
This is my desire, my “word” if you will for 2020. Trust. Not blindly or without purpose, but honest, surrendered trust in my God to guide me, give me wisdom, defend me, protect me, hold me, love me, through wherever life leads me.
It’s a daunting challenge for this “wants to control” girl. It’s a slap in the face to worry. But it’s what God asks of all of us. And it’s what Jesus did without a single misstep. Even in Gethsemane. Even when His humanity wanted different circumstances. He still trusted. He still surrendered. And He came out victorious.
That’s what I want to be. Trusting. Surrendered. Victorious. And a little bit more like Jesus.
What goal or word do you see for you as the calendar turns to the 2020’s?
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