The Joy of Well-Placed Trust

Lately my heart has been camping in joy. How is true, heart-joy to be found? Why are we missing it so often? Why is joy important as a follower of Christ?

One verse in particular has been rolling around in my mind these last few weeks: "The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him." - Psalm 28:7

The turning point in this verse seems to be "...in Him my heart trusts..." The psalm begins in real anxiety- read it through from the beginning! But by verse 7, which is near the end, the psalmist has turned his heart to the Lord and this is where his cries of uncertainty turn to joyous exclamations and singing! In reading through much of Psalms, this theme is not uncommon.

Ps. 33:20-21- "Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and shield. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name."

Ps. 63:7- "For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy."

Ps. 73:26- "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

It would seem that the secret to enduring heart joy is a well-placed trust. Trust and delight in Him who cannot fail. He who created our hearts is faithful, good and gracious. When we trust in our own strength, we are bound to fears and anxieties because we know we fail! "My flesh and my heart may fail (they do and they have!)..." We have fallen, we have failed in the past, we know we are not to be trusted. Therefore we worry and fret and in our self-trust we allow the enemy to steal our joy. But God- God has proven that He is trustworthy! Time and again, both in Scripture and in our own lives we have reason to believe that God is overwhelmingly competent and worthy of our complete confidence. He is infinitely powerful where I am powerless. He is ever faithful when I fail daily. He overwhelms me with agape, heaven-love where I am selfish at my core. He is all-seeing and all-knowing when all I see is what's right in front of me at best. And He is calling me to surrender my tired, trembling heart to His care, knowing that when I do, the result is such freedom that I cannot help but sing. Like a bird that warbles happily from the safety of a tall and strong evergreen tree, when I let go of the notion that I can figure it out and simply rest in the sovereignty of my Father-Protector, I have the freedom to sing. No longer must I worry about my competence or my own ability. Joy comes in letting go of myself and my ambitions and my view of how things "should be" and trusting that I have a God who knows all my needs and does all things well.

And why is it so important that we learn to practice trust and receive joy? Joy is one of the most important facets of our Christian witness! The world does not understand joy. They love the look of it, this contented undercurrent, not of happiness, but of rest. But it is foreign. There is no joy in the constant grasping after pleasure, the trust in self or money or power. And so joy is different. It is something they do not have, cannot have, without the well-placed trust of a relationship with their Creator. The importance of learning joy as believers is evident.

So, where is your trust? Are you worn out with trusting in yourself? Other people? Possessions?I implore you to bring your worn out, ragged heart to the Savior for safekeeping- He will not fail you and in the shadow of His wings, you'll find the freedom to sing.

Blessed to be a Blessing

Travis and I have been thinking and recounting a lot lately. Recounting the many amazing events and things that transpired to bring us where we are today. Serving together in a rural community, married just over 3 weeks. We can still hardly believe we are together, having met through a series of unlikely circumstances. God certainly knows how to handpick people who are perfect for one another, as we discover each day we spend in each other's company and fall more and more in love. We are so blessed.

Yesterday as I was reading Psalm 67 for my devotional time, I came across this familiar verse, the first in the chapter: "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us...Selah." Ah, yes, I thought, God has been so gracious and has certainly blessed us...but then as I read on, I realized the Psalmist's pause, that Selah which acts as a reflective deep breath, did not necessarily act as a moment to reflect on the ways we have benefited from God's incredible blessing. No, from the following verses, it would seem that in the pause the Psalmist asked "why?" Why do we ask for blessing from God? What purpose does blessing really serve, that we should request it? Read on, in verse 2: "...that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations." It would seem there is an even greater purpose to blessing than merely our own benefit- which is great! Our focus in asking for blessing, whether for ourselves or others needs a shift...blessing is intended to reflect glory back to God, to make Him known and make His name great in all the earth! That when we recount what He has done for us, we showcase His power, His ways. The ways in which He works are specially designed to show off His amazing power and His graciousness.

May we remember, when we reflect and recount on the ways we have been blessed, to draw out of our experiences the ways we can turn it to His glory. May all peoples see that God, our God, is great and gracious and powerful and that He works in mysterious ways. Blessing is a tool that He has given us to turn our praises and the praises of the earth back to Himself.