204. Let God be God: Trust in His holy name.
4 October 2021
“Trust in me.”
Numbers 20
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
Water From the Rock
Numbers 20
7 The Lord said to Moses,
8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
John 14 NLT
1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
John 14
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus the Way to the Father
John 14
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
From "The Case for Faith" by Lee Strobel, page 33.
".....prominent British pastor John R. W Stott who acknowledged that suffering is "the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith", has reached his own conclusion:
I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross.... In the real world of pain, how could one worship a
God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross which symbolizes divine suffering. 'The cross of Christ ... is God's only self-justification in such a world' as ours."
Questions for Reflection
• How have difficulties, challenges, and even pain shaped your character and values? How are you different today as a result of the problems you've had to face in life? Can you ever imagine thanking God someday for how suffering has molded you?
• If you were God, how would you have designed the world differently? As you remove
suffering or evil and tinker with people's free will, think through the consequences that would result. How would people form character in your utopia? Would they be motivated to seek God in the midst of their pleasures?"
Not knowing what to do, I learned to cry out to God and He let me live up to this day to testify that His compassions never fail, they are new every morning, great is His faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Amidst the suffering around us, let God be God and let us trust in His holy name.
Psalm 9
Of David
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
"“‘I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the Lord.’”
15 While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him:
16 “Go and tell Ebed-Melek the Cushite, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city—words concerning disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes.
17 But I will rescue you on that day, declares the Lord; you will not be given into the hands of those you fear.’” Lord God Almighty, I put my trust in You, in Jesus' name. Amen.
2 February 2018"
May you be blessed with God's Word.
Maraming salamat.
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