Good Morning!
On today's worship and prayer help I want to talk about a subject that seems obvious, but one that is probably the most difficult to define, and that is trust.
It's almost more a feeling than it is a thing to be grasped with the mind, yet it's so important to our mental and spiritual help. Trust helps us get in the car in the morning and know that when we hit the brake the car is going to stop, that when we hit that light switch the ability to see will be the result. And usually when we think about this it's always about our relationship with something, or someone else. Can we trust our spouse to love us? Our employer to pay us? The government not to try and take things away, well maybe that last one is a step too far. ;) Yet there is often a person we don't think too much about, or really don't want to examine when it comes to this...and that is ourselves. Can you trust yourself? Well, the writer of the Book of Proverbs often has a meddling word that challenges our perception of reality and it is definitely true in this case. Here is what Solomon writes in Proverbs 28:26:
Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
Yikes! That hits a little too close to home. If I can trust anyone shouldn't it be myself? Well, if we are being honest who usually is the first person to lie to us about what is actually going on in the world? That the sin I am committing is okay because no one knows about it? Or that while it may be wrong for someone else to do or think this, it's okay for me because I know my own circumstances?
That's dangerous stuff to fall into. It is the kind of thing James warns us about, "...But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." and it is also part of the warning about sin that John speaks to in his first letter, "...If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
So how do we go about not falling into this trap? Well, first of all we need to follow the Luke 18:13 model in prayer. We need to recognize that we can't trust ourselves in the flesh, we have to lay ourselves completely into the wisdom of our God. His mirror found in the Word has to be where our conscience and soul are bound. Because remember it is in Him alone we can trust. As Psalm 20:7 notes, "...Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." The first thing we are always to be reminded about when it comes to God is that He is God and we are not...and this is exactly where the power of our trust in Christ comes from. Knowing that while I am a mess, I am weak...yet He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me...not because of who I am, but because of what He has done for me and covenanted with me for all eternity. That I am His sheep, walking in His flock, and while I might fall into a hole or get chased by wolves my Sovereign protector will always be there to save my soul and body from one of its biggest enemies. Itself.
So as you go about your day today trust in Christ in all things. Don't just hand over to Him the "hard stuff"...or even just the easy stuff. Give it all to Him, including and especially yourself.
For today's reading take a look at this from Andrew Gray on self-deception:
https://www.reformationscotland.org/2020/03/13/the-most-dangerous-kind-of-self-deception/
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church