I’ve been reading this awesome book (among many) called Leadership Prayers by Richard Kriegbaum. The prayer I read today was about trust, and he connected the trust he desires to the love he has experienced.
Seeking God’s guidance begins with an intense awareness that I can safely trust His love for me. (Page 24)
There is an innate desire to know the result of our steps before we make a single move. This reigns especially true when the measure of faith being required of us has no logical origin or conclusion. It seems to simply exist as a dangerous adventure we can choose to accept or deny but the choice is inevitably ours. The primary difference is that it is not a man-made adventure like skydiving or bungee jumping or white water rafting. It is a divine adventure full of twists and turns we couldn’t possibly see coming and the only promise, the only comfort, we can acquire in the midst of this adventure is the understanding that He loves us.
I can’t help but repeat the Tina Turner song, What’s Love Got To Do With It, over and over in my mind. It is a very good question though. What does love got to do with it? We’re not talking about love here, are we? Weren’t we talking about faith and trust? There are people I love but would have a hard time trusting with important decisions. On the other hand, there are people I don’t know enough to truly love, but because of their character and follow through I can trust them to do things.
When it comes to God our logic gets contorted into irregularities we can seldom handle. You may have even asked God in an exasperated tone, “You want me to do WHAT, God?!” This isn’t a matter of security or even comfortability. It’s a matter of logic. This is the frustrating thing about “hearing from God”. God’s direction seldom lacks human logic because it’s too busy erupting with divine purpose. The end result God desires is spiritual in nature and the path to spiritual wholeness was never a path guided by human logic.
Every time God asks us to step forward in faith He is putting his perfect record on the line. He is saying, almost stubbornly, trust me because I love you. When we want an answer to the question, “Why?”, often times the best answer we’re going to get is, “Because I love you.” My fear of God calling me to an action of great faith has always hinged on my inner bend towards self-preservation. If I think of the solution, I can build in safeguards and backup plans. If God thinks of the situation then I am forced to improvise with the Holy Spirit. I know it’s a faith issue, but it feels like doing a group school project. No matter what the academic level, there always seems to exist one person in the group that doesn’t do their work. You show up on the day of the presentation praying that they come through. You know you did your part but doing their part is out of your hands.
This is what actions of great faith feel like to me. I know I can do my part, I’m just scared I’m going to get in front of the class and God isn’t going to show up with His part of the project. I know it’s illogical, after all, He has a perfect record. So this is what I must now tell myself… He’s asking me to do it because He loves me. He’s asking me to do it because He sees that I NEED to do it, for Him, for me. He’s asking me to do it, not because I necessarily trust Him, but because HE TRUSTS ME.
To know He loves me, and truly believe it, makes all impossibilities possible. It turns out love has A LOT to do with it.
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