Trusting in God

Trust in God. How easily that rolls off of our tongues. How difficult to live.

Jesus said in John 14:1, "Trust in God and trust in me."

I would suggest to you that trust was at the heart and center of the teachings of Jesus.

Here's what I know: Trust, many times, will not take away confusion or uncertainty in any given situation. Trust strengthens our relationship with God and lets us know that He is in control.

In Henri Nouwen's book, "The Inner Voice of Love," (published on the day of his death) he uses the word trust or trusting 65 times.

His earlier books are filled with the word faith. And yet in last book that he wrote before he passed away he uses the word faith once and the word trust 65 times.

Somewhere along the way, in the life of this man of God, faith combined with hope grew into trust. So deep was this trust in God that he saw even his own death as a blessed experience.

There was that "Job" spirit in his life that "Even though he slay me, yet will I trust him." Job 13:15

On May 17, 2008, Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman and his family suffered a devastating loss.

Five-year-old adopted daughter, Maria, was struck and killed when Chapman's seventeen-year-old son was backing his SUV out of the family's driveway. After much prayer and counsel, Chapman recently returned to touring in promotion for his newest album.

Elizabeth Diffin, a freelance reporter, attended one of Chapman's concerts and writes about the experience:

"It's not often you leave a concert reflecting on the words of a song by a different artist. But as I exited the July 24, 2008, Steven Curtis Chapman event, the words of a Matt Redman worship song echoed through my head. Chapman opened the concert with "Blessed Be Your Name" just two months after the death of his 5-year-old daughter, Maria Sue, in a tragic accident at the family's home.

"Blessed Be Your Name" was also the first song Chapman sang May 21, the day of Maria's death, when he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to sing again. Inspired by the story of Job, at one point the lyrics repeat, "He gives and takes away."
"As I sang this song … it wasn't a song, it was a cry, a scream, a prayer," Chapman explained to the audience of nearly 5,000. "I found an amazing comfort and peace that surpasses all understanding."

Chapman also shared that after Maria's death, he'd reconsidered the words to all his songs and whether he could still sing—and believe—them. Instead, losing his little girl brought the meaning of some of those songs into sharper focus. One example was "Yours," which addresses how everything in the world belongs to God.

"In this song, in particular, I had to come to a new realization," he said. "There's not an inch of creation that God doesn't look at and say 'all of that's mine.'"
As a result of that realization in conjunction with Maria's death, Chapman added a new verse to "Yours":

I've walked the valley of death's shadow
so deep and dark that I could barely breath.
I've had to let go of more than I could bear and
I've questioned everything that I believe.
Still even here in this great darkness
a comfort and a hope comes breaking through
as I can say in life or death
God we belong to you."

May we all be blessed with trust in God