Trusting Him

I have been reading a really great book.  I hesitate to recommend it because the author later became a universalist in her thinking.  But the things she writes of in her book, "The God of All Comfort" seem to my mind to be so in line with scripture.  This book has been used of the Lord in my heart to remind of timeless scriptural truths.

Just wanted to share a small excerpt on this blog tonight:

"We talk about obeying the commands of the Lord and make a great effort in our outward observances and duties.  All the while, we ignore the commands for our spiritual life, which are a thousand times more important.

'Let not you heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid' (Jn 14:27) is one of our Lord's commands that is almost universally disobeyed.  I wonder whether our disobedience of any other command is so grievous to His heart.  I know that I would be far more grieved if my child mistrusted me and felt her interests were unsafe in my care than if, in a moment of temptation, she disobeyed me.  I am convinced that none of us have understood how deeply it wounds the loving heart of our Lord when He finds that His people do not feel safe in His care.

We know this by our own experience.  Suppose one of our friends gives us something valuable to keep for them while they are out of town.  We give them every assurance that we would keep it safe.  Then suppose that they go away and worry over it, as we worry about the thing we commit to God.  What if they express to others the same anxieties about it that we express about the things we have put into God's care?...Would we not be deeply hurt and wounded?  And would we not finally be inclined to hand the thing back into our friends' own care and say, 'since it is very plain that you do not trust, you had better take care of your things yourself.'

It is amazing that God's own children can dare to be anxious after they have committed a matter to Him.  It is such a slander on His trustworthiness.  Unbelievers also see it in this way and think that to have the Lord for their dwelling place does not evidently amount to much after all.  Otherwise, those who profess to believing there would not be so troubled."