God is Trustworthy
By Janet Nordlund --
Hooray, this week it’s Community Sunday!!!! We will be remembering and celebrating together the truth that God is Trustworthy using Isaiah chapter 40 as our jumping off point.
“28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV
Isaiah 40 is just one place in the Bible where we read and hear the truth that God is completely trustworthy, because of who He is and what He can do. The truth is we are in need of someone we can completely trust all of the time who is worthy of our full reliance.
Years ago, my daughter Rachel and I were anxiously waiting for the nurse to return and give her the three immunizations she needed in order to attend first grade. Rachel looked into my eyes and with a gentle quiver in her young voice asked, “Is this going to hurt, mom?” I looked her in the eyes and answered with a little shake in my voice, too, “Yes, Rachel, this is going to hurt a little, it won’t last long and I will be here with you.” In this little moment in Rachel’s life, I was trustworthy. She got hurt, only a little, it didn’t last long and we were together.
BUT wait, there’s more….
My son Peter and I stood on his Razor scooter together at the top of the street that goes downhill in front of our home. (DO NOT TRY THIS IT IS UNSAFE). I can’t remember how young Peter was, but at the time, he was only as tall as my belly-button. As you can see in the picture below, our vertical situations have nearly reversed! Peter turned, pushed his helmet up off his eyes looked into mine with fearful hesitance and said, “I’m not sure I want to do this, mom.” I looked him in the eye and with gusto replied, “It will be fun, Peter! Let’s do this!” The descent was going pretty well until it FINALLY occurred to me that this scooter was not designed to carry two people nor were the brakes adequate to function in this scenario. As Peter and I came tumbling to a stop at the bottom of the street, thankfully with cuts and scrapes only, it was VERY CLEAR to me that I had not been worthy of Peter’s trust.
Rachel and Peter have graciously offered me their trust over the course of our lives and I have been so blessed to put my trust in my children many times, too. However, stories like the two I shared, and there are many others, demonstrate clearly to me and to my children that I am not the someone we can completely trust all of the time who is worthy of our full reliance.
The trust that we share in relationship that keeps us connected to each other comes from all three of us knowing and trusting the only TRUSTWORTHY GOD as seen in Isaiah 40.
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God….”
“All people are like grass, the grass withers and the flowers fall but the word of the Lord lasts forever…”
“And the Glory of the Lord will be revealed and all people will see it together…”
“Here is your God! The Sovereign Lord comes with power.”
“He tends his flock like a shepherd; He gently leads those who have young…”
“With whom then will you compare God? Or who is His equal?”
“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
Our God is WORTHY of all our TRUST!!! Rachel, Peter, Mark and I are continuing to learn to trust God in all kinds of challenges. I see so many in our faith community making the same choice to put their trust in Jesus when pain is guaranteed and outcomes for ourselves and those we love are unclear.
I am so grateful to do the challenging work of growing in trust of our Big God together with all of you. Looking forward to Community Sunday.