Actually, it's not rabbit OR duck season. I do love Looney Tunes, though! VBS season, though drawing to a close for most, is reaching its climax at my church. In two days, our little church will be transformed into a sky-themed adventure. Our overarching theme is "everything is possible with God!"
I am the VBS director kind of overseeing the whole thing, and I am also leading the beginning and end of each day with singing and teaching. We will be learning one of these Bible points each day:
I love that we are teaching and learning these awesome points at Sky VBS. Trusting that God is loving and good is crucial to the Christian faith.
However, trusting God is extremely difficult sometimes. I have such a hard time trusting God that I feel inadequate . . . even hypocritical, teaching it. Suddenly a burst of panic gushes through me and I know Satan is stoking this negative response. I remember all the times I haven't trusted God, moments of pain and fear and sorrow.
That is Satan's favorite question to plant in our minds. Satan may be cunning, but he's very uncreative. He pushes this question over and over, knowing that if we believe this lie that God is not trustworthy, it will be so much easier for him to get at us.
What is it about trust that the human race just doesn't get? We are afraid to trust because we don't want to get hurt, we don't want to be wrong, and we are afraid we are missing out. Adam and Eve had the first ever trust issue. They didn't trust God was providing the best for them, and so they rebelled, thinking there was something better they were missing. Where did it end? Pain and death.
I am the VBS director kind of overseeing the whole thing, and I am also leading the beginning and end of each day with singing and teaching. We will be learning one of these Bible points each day:
- No matter who you are...trust God!
- No matter how you feel...trust God!
- No matter what people do...trust God!
- No matter what happens...trust God!
- No matter where you are...trust God!
I love that we are teaching and learning these awesome points at Sky VBS. Trusting that God is loving and good is crucial to the Christian faith.
However, trusting God is extremely difficult sometimes. I have such a hard time trusting God that I feel inadequate . . . even hypocritical, teaching it. Suddenly a burst of panic gushes through me and I know Satan is stoking this negative response. I remember all the times I haven't trusted God, moments of pain and fear and sorrow.
Is God really trustworthy?
What is it about trust that the human race just doesn't get? We are afraid to trust because we don't want to get hurt, we don't want to be wrong, and we are afraid we are missing out. Adam and Eve had the first ever trust issue. They didn't trust God was providing the best for them, and so they rebelled, thinking there was something better they were missing. Where did it end? Pain and death.
Though God had handed Saul many victories and crowned him king over Israel, time and time again he refused to trust God because he thought that he knew better. What happened to Saul? He was humiliated and killed himself.
David didn't trust that God had satisfied all his desires, so he ran with his lust and committed adultery with Bathsheba and later the planned slaughter of Bathsheba's husband. The result was the death of the first son born of Bathsheba and David.
The Pharisees couldn't believe that Jesus was the Son of God. They couldn't see past all the rules and regulations they followed with absolute precision. They refused to trust that this man was God Himself, because it seemed too ridiculous to be true. Well, we can all attest that the Pharisees led pretty miserable lives because of their trust in principles instead of in God incarnate. Who knows if some of them eventually trusted in Christ or not?
None of the disciples trusted Jesus' words about Himself. When Jesus was crucified, they were so wrapped up in the "finality" of death, that they failed to grasp that He would come back to life, thereby promising resurrection to all who believe in Him. Even when He returned to them in bodily form, Thomas still wasn't able to trust Jesus' words. Thomas didn't trust his own eyesight, for goodness' sake!
Let's face it, we all want proof that God cares about every facet of every person's life! I want proof that God loves the North Korean child in a prison camp, a place where the kid cannot even grasp the concept of love, a place where his own mother steals food from him, a place of starvation and torment. Get Him out of there, God! We all want proof that God is good, loving, trustworthy, and reliable in every circumstance, time, and place! Well, ya know, we simply do not receive proof sometimes--at least not in specific situations. However, there is a reason God has left us His Word, for there lies a multitude of evidence of God's love and mercy in the most dire of situations.
- God did not destroy Adam and Eve when they rebelled. He set a plan of restoration in motion.
- God gave Saul countless opportunities to come back to Him. Unfortunately, due to Saul's response, his was not a happy ending.
- God forgave David and gave him hope, continuing to bless him.
- Jesus instructed the Pharisees and was harshly insistent on some topics, because He wanted them to come to Him.
- Jesus, resurrected, ate with His disciples and offered Thomas to touch the wounds in his side. The result of their trust in Him no matter what was 11 cowardly people transformed into 11 of the most courageous followers of Christ the Bible has recorded. And they all would attest, I believe, to a life full of joy and hope and purpose.
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