trust, wednesday

Wednesday, October 22

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

         

Opening Prayer:     O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we feel our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of your presence, your love, and your strength.  Help us to have perfect trust in your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us, for, living close to you, we shall see your hand, your purpose, your will through all things.

                                                                                ~St. Ignatius

Scripture Reading for the Day: Psalm 62:1-12

Reading for Reflection:

 

     Only in God, and God alone, can our fearful and insecure hearts find rest.  All else (everything but Him) is simply shifting sand and shaky ground—temporal, transient, fragile.  He alone is our rock, our refuge, and our fortress.  Don’t we all long to live our lives rooted in Him, built upon the solid foundation of him, where we will never again have to worry about being shaken?

     But the unfortunate truth is that this very day—maybe even this very minute—we will be shaken, probably often.  We will be assaulted and thrown down; maybe not in body, but most certainly in heart and in spirit.  This very day we will be like a leaning wall or a tottering fence; frail, fragile, on the verge of collapse.  This very day we will listen to the lies and start to believe them.  This very day we will attach (the Hebrew word for trust means to attach) ourselves to something other than God alone.  We will trust in something, or someone, other than him to be the thing that will bring us a true sense of joy and peace and fulfillment.  We will attach ourselves to a conversation or an affirmation, a conflict or a negative comment, or an achievement or interaction, and become so very vulnerable to life and its circumstances—so easily knocked off balance, or blown by the wind, or uprooted from finding our center in him alone. 

     And once again we will—actually He will—have to remind ourselves of the truth. Our soul finds rest in God alone; our hope comes from Him. He alone is our rock and our salvation; He is our fortress, we will not be shaken. We will have to listen carefully to His voice and be truly convinced of the truth of His words: Our salvation and our honor depend on God; He is our mighty rock, our refuge. And, as we listen once again to His voice and His Word, something will begin to grow within us—trust. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart to Him, for God is our refuge. And, with this, we will be able, by His grace and power, to cut the cords of all the things we have attached ourselves to other than Him and attach ourselves once again to him, our strong and loving Creator. Thanks be to God!

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                  

Closing Prayer: In Thy will, O Lord, is my peace.  In Thy love is my rest.  In Thy service is my joy.  Thou art all my heart’s desire.  Amen. (A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie)