Pastor John,
The Lord gave me something the other day, it was a thought and it was not mine. It belonged with, and seemed to even complete something that God has been teaching me over the course of 20 years. I have done my best to tell about it, below.
Years ago, I used to feel myself squirm some when I would come to you with something that I considered a problem or a hard situation, and many times in response you would tell me, “Trust God.” I believed you and trusted you, but I wanted what I considered then to be a “real” answer to my dilemma. Something concrete, something that I could apply now 🙂
As the years went on, and I watched God fix things in my life and in the lives around me, I realized that you were right! I could, “trust God”. That was indeed the answer, even when I didn’t realize it back then.
Some years later, after I married Elizabeth, with her being new in the Lord and facing her own seemingly insurmountable problems and obstacles, I found myself telling her (when she would inquire of me for a solution), the same thing that you told me, and with the same sincerity and belief that it was true, that is, to “trust God”. And, she felt the same anxiety at that answer (at times), just as I did. I know this because she would tell me 🙂
Not too long ago, I found myself walking through the house, I abruptly stopped in my tracks, turned to Beth and repeated to her what the Spirit had, at that moment, just spoken to me, to wit: “Do you know why brother John always told me to ‘trust God’ when I came to him with my problems?” “No”, she replied. “Because He knew God was really there! That is why. He really knew God was taking care of us and that Jesus really is our hero.
Pastor John really believed God.”
In other words, you weren’t leaving me to flounder in that answer, Pastor John. You were trusting the real God to do what he said He would really do for us.
Two days ago, while at work, sitting at the courthouse, Jesus gave me a thought that seemed to finish this 20 year lesson. The Spirit spoke to my heart and said, (and I must paraphrase here since I failed to record it at the time), “When a man doesn’t know me, he will try to solve your problems for you. Thinking to do good, with many words and ideas and “counseling”, he will try to help. That man doesn’t know the value or difference between His words and Mine. You can’t trust that man. But when a man has heard from Me, he will say little, knowing his words are of little value in spiritual matters, and Mine are of complete value. That man, who will only speak what he has heard from Me, will give you more in just a few words (such as “Trust God”) than all of the rest. He who speaks the most on spiritual matters, knows the least.”
Jerry