TRUST IN GOD (PART 3)
"He trusts in God, so let God save him now, if God really wants him. He himself said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
Matt 27:43, NCV
Have you ever been reproached or challenged in a mocking or insulting manner because of your faith or trust in God? Jesus once experienced it, at the crucifixion ground. "He trusts in God, so let God save him now," they taunted him.
But what they didn't know is that Jesus' whole life and death was according to the determinate counsel of God. The Bible says that all that happened to Him was the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. (Acts 2:23). Interestingly, his enemies merely fulfilled God's will about Him. Do you know that God also has a determinate counsel regarding you?
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, ..." (Jer 29:11)
You may sometimes not understand what's going on with you, especially if what's going on with you is contrary to your expectations. But be rest assured that God has an end, a beautiful end in all that He allows you to go through in life. What's more, your expectations, the Bible says, shall not be cut off (Prov 23:18,24:14) All you need to do is to believe and trust God with your life. This is what very many people don't want to do. Can you believe God enough to trust Him with your whole life? Have you ever considered the beautiful and wonderful things God has written about you in Christ? Why can't you believe and trust Him to fulfill them in your life? Are you so unbelieving to think that God will lie to you?
Look at Jesus, it was written of Him that God will neither leave His soul in hell nor let his body to see corruption. (Ps 16:10). This was something that had never happened to anyone before Jesus; yet He believed God for it!
Even at death, Jesus trusted and believed in God. The Bible says that for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame (Heb 12:2). He was certain that His Father would not fail Him. In the end, God resurrected His Son from the dead and set Him at the right hand of Majesty! Can we trust God like Jesus did? Of course, we can!
The Jews had often heard Jesus call Himself God's Son. Yet they couldn't imagine God let the One who so trusted Him go through the kind of shameful death that He went through. Except the disciples, everyone on the crucifixion ground reviled Him; either asking Him to save Himself or that God should save Him, inasmuch as He called Himself His Son (Matt 27:39-44).
Yet, in all of these, Jesus' trust in God remained fervent and resolute. He knew why He came into the world. He was cock sure of His Father's love for Him. Besides, He believed that His Father had a great purpose in all that He permitted Him to go through. The Bible says to let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5).
Child of God, the world may as well taunt you for your faith and trust in God. The Bible tells us to look unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2). His trust in His Father wasn't shaken by the mockery He received from the people around Him.
On this, someone observed:
"It failed to shake, for one moment, His (Jesus) unswerving confidence, even when the sensible tokens of the Divine presence were withdrawn; the realized consciousness of God’s abiding love sustained Him still ... How many a perplexity should we save ourselves by implicitly “committing ourselves,” as He did, to God! In seasons of darkness and trouble—when our way is shut up with thorns, to lift the confiding eye of faith to Him, and say, “I am oppressed, undertake for me!” How blessed to feel that He directs all that befalls us; that no contingencies can frustrate His plans; that the way he leads us is not only a “right way,” but, with all its briers and thorns—its tears and trials—it is the right way!" (John Ross Macduff; “The Mind of Jesus.”)
PRAYER:
Father, it's actually a privilege and my pleasure is to trust in You. Thank You for the opportunity to do so, in Jesus name.