Beginning at the very beginning in the Garden of
Eden, the Man and the Woman trusted in God to take care of their
needs…until they destroyed that trust.
Even when they had to make their own way
in the land where God sent them, they still trusted God to care and
provide for them. They lived on the land. They worked the ground, planted
seeds, raised animals for meat, and talked with God, trusting that he
would be there whenever they called.
The pattern had been set though that
Man would continue to forget the Covenant and would break it, always looking
for the greener pastures or the easy way, breaking the trust that was so
necessary.
Our ancestors, our sisters and
brothers descended from the original Man and Woman, broke the trust
established between God and them. It
would be mended or patched up. God told them He would forget, not remember
their past transgressions. He kept His promise; they didn’t.
As we read and hear the stories in the
Old Testament we see where God, our Father, would start all over with a new
leader, a new judge, a new king, or a new prophet. He would wipe the slate clean. He would erase
the memory of their sins against Him and begin anew. He would ask them to trust
Him…and they would…for a while.
That’s why God confused the language
of the people at Babel. That’s why there was the Flood. That’s why Joseph,
Jacob’s son, was sent to Egypt. That’s why the Israelites wandered so long in
the wilderness. That’s why Jerusalem was destroyed along with the temple. The
covenant was broken. They couldn’t believe that God would do everything He said
He’d do for them.
They looked at their neighbors, who
worshiped other gods, and saw that they had better things than they did…or at
least they thought so…so they would set up shrines and worship their gods. They didn’t trust God.
There was always that remnant that
didn’t lose their faith. Sometimes it was a very small remnant, like the family
of Noah or Hannah or Abraham or Joseph or Moses or Samuel or Elijah or Elisha
or Isaiah or Jeremiah or…Mary the mother of Jesus or Elizabeth the mother of
John.
Everywhere we look we can find the
element of trust somewhere in the story. God is love but we must
“trust” that He really loves us.
You see, we can’t believe that He
could love us the way we are because we know how many times we’ve broken the
covenant. We know our evil, lustful, not
so nice thoughts and actions. We hide them from others but we can’t hide them
from God.
And yet…he forgets our past and
current mistakes and transgressions. He calls us back to Him and all he asks is
that we trust Him…to forgive and forget and love us.
Hannah trusted God to hear her
prayers, especially after Eli told her he was sure God would answer her
prayers. Our reading from Hebrews
encourages us to trust the new priest, Jesus the Christ. Jesus tells us
in Mark’s lesson that we shouldn’t trust the signs around us or in our
own ingenuity but trust His word when he says he’s coming back… and
it’ll get worse before His arrival. This is nothing.
Trust is the key word to
remember and carry with us this week. We
aren’t to place our trust in our own talents but lean entirely upon Jesus, the
One who lived and died and rose again to show us we could trust in God’s
plan for the world.
Have faith my friends. God loves you
and will provide all you need as long as you believe.
Thanks be to God for his trustworthy
grace. Amen.
