Honestly? Where would you rather live? I mean really. If you had your choice as to which place to build your perfect home is it going to be in the wasteland where your only view is a small, dried up bush, or by a beautiful mountain river with lush vegetation all around?The Israelites were presented with just such a choice in Jeremiah 17:5-8:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends upon flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
"BUT, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when the heat comes;
it's leaves are always green.
It has not worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
The key to whether we live in the desert or along a stream is found in the word 'trust'. Trust is very different from belief. We can believe in the existence of God, we can believe in the truth of His word, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you trust Him. Belief is an acknowledgement of truth. Trust is a complete dependence upon that truth. Belief puts you in the vicinity of the stream, trust firmly plants you next to it with roots that are sent out to draw in it's fresh, pure, life giving water.
Trust is the proof of our faith. It is what we desperately need in these days of worry, doubt, and fear. In days of economic distress, political uncertainty, and moral confusion we don't need a better belief system, we need to learn to trust in a God who is above all of this.
We often seek deeper and clearer levels of understanding in our faith but usually what is most needed is to simply trust in the One who knows. Trust allows us to go beyond ourselves and the uncertainty that plagues our lives and to live in the quiet confidence of God's love for us. He is in control and since He is, we don't have to be. Worry is a kind of feeble attempt at control. Things seem to be confusing or slipping away from our ability to control them and so we begin to worry which at least convinces us that we are still deeply concerned. We fear that if we let go of worry and just trust in God it will mean losing our ability to control the situation, which is exactly what is necessary if we are going to survive.
A man was spending several months working at Mother Teresa's 'House of the dying' work in Calcutta, India. He had gone there to try and clear up some of the confusion in his life and to seek out a new sense of purpose and direction. After a few months he finally had the opportunity to talk for a few minutes with Mother Teresa herself. She asked him, "What can I do for you?" The man said, "You can pray for me." "And what would you like for me to pray for?" The man said, "Please pray for clarity in my life." Mother Teresa said to him, "No, I won't pray for that. Clarity is the last thing that you are clinging to and must let of. I will pray that you will be able to trust God."
As we let go of our need to understand everything we are letting go of our dependence upon ourselves. Only then can we truly begin to depend upon Him and trust Him as we should. There is no doubt in my mind where I would rather be living. And so in these days of fearand uncertainty the cry of my heart is simply, "Lord, take me to the river!"
