Trust and Faith

I recently went to dinner with a friend who I realized I hadn’t talked to for a while.  It’s difficult during tax season to catch up.  Work wears you out and by the time you get home the last thing you want to do is get on the phone or stare at a computer screen.  Keeping communications alive with friends you love and care about gets tough, especially when you work the kind of crazy schedules we do.  From one week to the next I may be working a different schedule, making it hard to stay connected.

As soon as we sat down and began to talk I realized that she had completely lost faith in people, and more importantly, anyone connected with “the church.”  People had let her down time and again, in one way or another, and many of her dreams slid away unrealized.  Sadly, while she believed God existed, she didn’t believe he had any real part in her day-to-day life.  She seemed lost in the desperate hole of the disenfranchised.  She finally seemed to have bought the great lie called Why Bother – they don’t see your potential or are scared by it, they don’t like you and are against you, it’s just a job or just a lousy life, and if you want anything you’ll have to get it on your own.  No one is going to help you – not your friends, not your supervisors, not anyone who says they are a Christian, not the church, and certainly not God.

She has been “turned off” by those who profess Christianity in front of the boss but who curse and tell ugly jokes with the best of them as soon as the boss leaves the room.  They know how to praise God and spout Bible verses they’ve memorized but their belief is only a façade, part of the game they play to make others believe the lie.  They are part of the lie, part of the enemy’s plant to turn us away from God.  They are the false prophets whose job it is to convince us that following God is the wrong choice.

I want her to know this is not the God I know, nor the church I know.  My God never fails; he always works things out for my good, even when I don’t understand how he plans to do that or how he can find good in the situation – like battling cancer.  How can he see good in that?  How can he see good in letting your husband die so young, or a child commit suicide because that’s what all the kids are doing on a Friday night – playing the choking game and dying for want of love.  God uses the situations in our lives in his fight to get us to see that without him there is no good.  He fights to get us to see through the lies and find the truth in him and in his Word. 

People will always fail you but God never will.  If we fail it is because we did not trust him to do what he says he will do. Our fear drives us into unbelief and distrust. I would like my friend to understand that everything depends on believing God and trusting him without regret – and without trying to control the situation ourselves.  Trust, Pastor G says, demands commitment – we cannot trust that to which we are not committed.  I am committed to God and his Word.  There is nothing man can offer that matches God, his Word, his Truth.

But I don’t think my friend can hear me.  She’s bought into Satan’s lie – that God and his church are worthless when it comes to her life and its path.  I don’t know what to do other than to keep loving her, keep praying for her, and keep showing her that God is the truth, the way, and the light.  I want so much for her to know that God (and God alone) can take care of anything you find yourself caught in. I want her to know that God has a place for everyone in his Kingdom, even those of us who are female, are not married, and do not have any kids.

Isaiah 54:1-5 says:

 “Sing, barren woman,
   you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
   you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
   than of her who has a husband,”
            says the LORD.
“Enlarge the place of your tent,
   stretch your tent curtains wide,
   do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
   strengthen your stakes.

 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
   your descendants will dispossess nations
   and settle in their desolate cities.

  “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
   Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
   and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
For your Maker is your husband—
   the LORD Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
   he is called the God of all the earth. 

I consider myself married to Christ, so why would I worry about hunting down some poor man to marry?  Christ is all I need.  If God thinks I need a husband to do his work, I’m sure he’ll put one in my path.  Until then I will keep on walking and believing God for all the things in my life, including cancer and the loneliness of being single in a world that is only made for couples.

I wish my friend could see the peace that is in Christ.  I wish she could know how safe it is to be held in his hands, to be guided by his Spirit, to find comfort and healing in his Word.  Whenever the enemy has come crawling back with his lies, I always find peace in the Word of God.  The Sword of Truth is my weapon of choice.  His Spirit refreshes my soul and keeps me moving forward on the path he has set for my life.

I would like my friend to experience the Living Water that never runs dry.  I want her to experience the beauty and joy in Christ.  I want her to place her hands over her heart and surrender to a God who will never leave her, never forsake her, and whose love will last for all eternity.