Tag: trust

Posted on

Trusting in the Fabric of His Plan

Exodus 15:20 (ESV)—Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.

Throughout San Juan, music flows through the doors of restaurants and bars. Music pours from speakers the residents carry.

At one point, while I sat with my husband at an outdoor tea and coffee kiosk, one customer’s speaker played soft guitar strains and Latin beats flowed from another’s. And after visiting for a few days, I realized that music blending together in the streets is part of the island’s fabric of the life.

In several parts of the Bible, dancing due to victories over enemies is part of the fabric of life. Take, for example, the prophet Miriam’s song and dance in Exodus 15:20: “Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing.”

However, as charming as this scene is, her dancing didn’t come immediately. First, she had to learn to trust God with her troubles. For instance, Miriam learned the hard way that God appointed his servant Moses. Her attempt at gaining more power ended in leprosy and seven days of banishment from the Israelite camp (Numbers 12).

Better the former than the latter, right? Well, we can’t have one without the other.

Our relationship with him involves both troubles in our lives and trust in his blend of music for our lives. His love for us comes in comfort and peace during trials. It comes in the form of encouragement from family and friends. For these situations, we can still worship by bowing down in humility to the One who has designed for us a plan.

Indeed, not every situation is going to make us want to dance. But some are, and for these, God deserves our raised hands, our songs of praise, our bodies swaying to the fabric of his plan.

Posted on

Obeying the One

Buildings in Old San Juan 
1 Corinthians 3:5 (ESV)—What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.

“Waffles and tea, that’s our kind of place!” I showed my husband the restaurant on the Tripadvisor app.

The next morning, I used the location in the app to find the restaurant…only to arrive at an Asian restaurant. My growling stomach pushed us onward to a second address, procured from the establishment’s website…another misdirection into the heart of Old San Juan. The hunt for a third address, plucked from Yelp or a similar site on the internet (it’s hard to remember), also proved the restaurant elusive.

After this, I gave up.

“Let’s eat here.” I pointed to a random restaurant.

The Corinthians had a similar problem, but instead of searching for a restaurant, they sought someone to put their faith in. Some pointed to Paul and others to Apollos, depending on who’d baptized them. Because of their choice to follow one man, they lacked spiritual growth.

To experience the thrill of growing in spiritual maturity today, we follow the One. We seek God’s wisdom, and the Holy Spirit teaches us discernment. We tend to our role in his name, and our vine bears fruit.

These words sound simple: obey and grow. However, obedience can be difficult. It is choosing to serve him, for every second, of every day, throughout our life. When we seek him first though, we find the benefits of obedience to God and recognize the futility of trusting in a one rather the One.

Posted on

Reading the Writing on the Wall

Daniel 5:20 (ESV)—But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him.

The waves rose and crashed near the shoreline. Boogie board in hand, I waded into the Hawaiian waters, confident of my skills.

I have this.

As the sun moved across the sky, the waves swelled bigger. My earlier confidence waned and my countenance changed.

I’ve done this before. Of course I can do this.

I charged back toward the waves. The swell grew and I craned my neck upward, and I ran toward the shore. Fun being had and husband in the water with me, I scanned the waves and, once again, stepped out deeper.

I’m not going to run this time.

The large swell rose on the surface, growing, growing, growing. I pressed my feet into the sand and launched myself forward.

Only I misjudged and the wave pressed me down, underwater, onto sandy ground. Surfacing and spitting out a mouthful of saltwater, I walked as fast as possible to the sandy shore and collapsed on my beach towel.

King Belshazzar’s story begins with wine drunk from the holy temple vessels, all while “[praising] the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone” (Daniel 5:4)—his version of a day at the beach, for sure. However, his countenance of wine-fueled merriment changed when he saw a hand writing on the wall. He called upon the enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers to interpret the writing. He boosted his confidence with an offer to clothe in purple, put a gold chain around the neck of, and declare the third ruler in the kingdom the person who could interpret the writing for him.

These servants could not interpret the message. A metaphorical wave smacking him in the face, the king became “alarmed” (Daniel 5:9).

At this point, the queen reminded him of a man named Daniel, who had in him “the spirit of the holy gods.” So the king called on the holy gods. Daniel, a God-fearing man, said he did not want the king’s offerings but would interpret.

Daniel’s interpretation swelled like a tsunami. King Belshazzar had not learned the lesson of his father, King Nebuchadnezzar, that these holy gods did not have control, that God was sovereign. He also learned his reign was ending.

After Daniel gave his grave interpretation, Belshazzar spit out his mouthful of saltwater and made another attempt to stay in control, it seemed. He upheld his promise of clothing Daniel in purple, putting a gold chain around his neck, and making him third ruler of the kingdom.

On that night, the king was killed.

The writing on the wall may come subtly at first, like gentle swells in the ocean. But when we ignore these calls from God, and instead rely on our own power, the writing on the walls becomes more intense. The intensity may be our sign from God that it’s time to turn to him and that we’re relying more on ourselves than on him.

In these moments, an examination of our past choices can reveal when our choices belonged to God and when they belonged to ourselves. If we trust as Daniel did, and trust his past goodness extends to the future, we can rest assured “[God] will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:11–12). Indeed, he will clothe us in purple in his time.