Clarity or Trust?

“Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: ‘My father was a wandering Aramean…’” (Deuteronomy 26:5, NIV 1984).

Philosopher John Cavanaugh visited Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying for three months in the 1970s. It was a time in his life when he was seeking direction from God for his own future. He was given the opportunity to have an audience with Teresa and asked her to pray for him.

“What would you have me pray?” she asked.

“Would you pray that God would give me clarity?”

“I can’t do that,” she replied.

“Why not?” John asked.

“I have never had a day of clarity in my life,” she said. “What I will pray for you is that you will learn to trust.”

Clarity or trust?

My two-year-old granddaughter loves to play in my study, but if the lights are off, she will stop and say, “Turn lights on, Doc.”

When we were children, many of us were also afraid of the dark. Some of us still are.

As humans and especially as doctors, we like to sort out where we are going before we make the next incision, offer the next treatment plan or decide where God wants us to work for the next 10 years. Our world is broken down into data and probability factors. We evaluate what we can see, make the best judgment based on our observations and then choose how to act. Emergency surgery on a traumatic belly is far more anxiety-provoking than a planned cholecystectomy. We prefer to know what we will find before we explore.

Unfortunately, this carries over into our faith life. It is difficult for me to make a directional decision in my life when I am not sure where it will take me. If I can’t see the future clearly, I become frustrated and anxious over my next step. Even though I seek God’s will the best I can and trust him to carry it out---I still can’t get over my fear of the dark.

When I read God’s word, I see him saying over and over again, “Your understanding of my will is not nearly as important as your wanting of my will and your trust in me as you step into the darkness.” That’s what Abraham’s call to be a “wandering Aramean” was all about: his total trust was the very foundation upon which God has led his people through the centuries---even to the foot of the cross, even to my next decision.

Dear God,

Lead me into the darkness, into your arms.

Amen

TOAST

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5, NIV 1984).

Not too many decades ago I was rock climbing with my son and his friend in Colorado. Halfway up a steep ledge, we stepped into an amazing panorama with the valley below and the snow covered peaks beyond it. My son’s friend handed me his camera to take the picture. When I was handing it back, he missed the handoff and I watched the camera bounce down the rock face and over the ledge, out of view. After a moment of silence, all of us shocked by the event, we heard from far below, “It’s toast!”

There are lots of uses for the word TOAST in our lives: “toast the honoree, that’s toast, eat toast, toast the marshmallow….” But TOAST to me is an acronym.

The older I become, the more I seem to seek the basics of my faith--- the profound simplicities on the far side of a complex life.

One of the basics I desperately seek is to understand what it means to love God. When I look at the way we modern folk think of love, it seems we speak mostly of emotions. When I look at the way God shows His love for us in the Bible, it is almost always in action. Perhaps He wishes me to love Him in the same way---and so the acronym TOAST---the basics of loving God.

Trust:
“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24, NIV 1984). “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” (Matthew 6:31, NIV 1984).
Obey:

“This is love for God: to obey his commands…” (1 John 5:3, NIV 1984). “Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than men!’” (Acts 5:29, NIV 1984).

Abide:
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4, ESV). “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31, ESV).

Surrender:
“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’” (Luke 9:23, ESV). “But now you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:22, NIV 1984).

Thank:
“Let him give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men” (Psalm 107:8, NIV 1984). “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV 1984).

Dear Father,
Let me love you more.
Amen