The Israelites were hungry. They lacked food. From His storehouse of riches God said He would rain down food from heaven, but the people were commanded to pick up only enough for each day. On the sixth day they were instructed to gather twice as much so that they could rest on the Sabbath. God was testing the Israelites to see if they would follow His directions. Would they trust the Lord for His daily provision?
Trust. It's so easy to say that we trust the Lord when we have that glorious feeling that everything is going our way. Enter a situation that we have absolutely no control over. What then? Is our heart still singing a happy tune and are we walking with the same sense of peace?
Recently I had two friends facing the possibility of bad news. Both were related to health concerns. One for themselves, the other for their husband. There was nothing either could do to change the results. They were at the mercy of lab reports, but they weren't without the mercy of the Lord. Whatever the outcome they could trust the Lord to be with them and carry them through.
As I was praying for them, I picked up a book I had just finished reading. Scanning the pages for sentences I had highlighted or underlined I was asking the Lord to encourage my own heart and guide my prayers with wisdom. Our longing is to remove the test of trust. As Brennan Manning writes in his book, "Ruthless Trust", our tendency is to eliminate every risk that invites us to trust God more. We want to run from the very situations that renew trust and give opportunity to see His sovereign deliverance; a deliverance from what Brennan calls the "warehouse of worry". It's so true! Sadly, our anxiety is no small store in a little plaza. Our nervousness is just one emotion shelved in a huge distribution center that contains related feelings of fear, dread, unease, doubt and panic.
It has been said that we will trust God to the degree that we know we are loved by Him. When we embrace the lavish love of God and believe with all our heart that anything He allows to touch our life is for the purpose of knowing Him as God, drawing us closer and giving Him glory, we can rest in Him through tests that attempt to shake our resolve of trust.
Brennan Manning concludes that trust is being a home-body! I love that! Trust means abiding in Him, dwelling in Him, secure in Him, making our home in Him. Today I long to be a "home-body", trusting God through the circumstances He brings into my life, walking in obedience and knowing Him.
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