What Do We Put Our Hope In?

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?" - Matthew 6:26

While we were working at the church this morning, Don Victor noticed that there was a bird laying on the ground.  He picked it up and gentle placed it into my hands, where it simply sat looking around and staring at me.  It didn't seem frightened at all, it was completely content to rest in my hand.  I had no idea if the bird was hurt or if it could fly, so I just brushed it's feathers with the tip of my finger and kept softly talking to it.  Just as I was thinking that I should put the bird down somewhere, it suddenly took off flying. The entire time this bird had the ability to go, to fly and yet it was content to simply rest in my hands.

As I was holding this bird Matthew 6 kept running through my head.  "Are you not much more valuable then they?"  In Matthew 6:33-34 it says, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."  These are verses that most people in the Church are all very familiar with, but I think they are some of the hardest verses to put 100% of our trust in.  Jesus is telling us to let go of all our worries, to rest completely in His hands.  He is promising to provide for us, we are His children whom He loves. He is telling us to keep our eyes focused on Him, to be distracted by Him and Him alone.

We read these verses and we feel so encouraged and so loved by our Savior who is telling us to rest in Him.  To not think about tomorrow, but to Press On, because He has the whole world in His hands.  It is something that is so easy to read, to teach and to say we totally believe.  But then this funny thing called life hits and it can hit us hard sometimes.  That is when we are stretched, when God tests our faith to see if we are truly standing on Him, our unshakable rock.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to Sarah - she was here for three and a half weeks working with us - and we were talking about Gods plan.  Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." So often God's plans are not exactly what we expected them to be.  There are glitches, storms, falls and confusion. It is so easy to get worried, confused and scared that things will end up staying in darkness and that there will never be any rest or light.  Yet, God tells us to rest in Him.  To lean not on our own understanding, but to rest completely in Him and let Him direct our path.  We both agreed that it is such an amazing comfort to know that everything happens for a reason and that God works everything out for His glory.  Yes, things get hard and we can be so confused, but as long as we nestle in His hands and trust that He knows exactly what we need and exactly what time we need it, then we can have hope.  With that hope, through faith, we can have joy and with God's strength (just like this little bird) we can fly.  God takes care of all of His creation, they are not left wanting, we cannot forget His words "Are you not much more valuable than they?"  

"I believe in God, even when He is silent"

“If that is how God cloths the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more cloth you – you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘what shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Matthew 6:30-34

God makes a promise that He will take care of our needs, as long as we are following after His will.  We are His children, whom He loves and gave His son up for, why would He give us a rock when we ask for bread?  Yet, even knowing this promise, it is so easy to get caught up in everyday life.  We start worrying about all the little things that the world has made so big.  So many times these earthy worries are placed above God, we put them first, instead of seeking Him and leaning on Him with our whole heart.  More and more I realize how much I limit my God when I depend on myself.  He tells me to have faith and seek Him, to give Him all of my life.  Getting caught up in the numbers, in what people expect from you, from all the different worries, we make so many excuses of why we need to do something, “But God.”  How big is He?  He is infinite, but how big is my God?

We ask God to show us what He is going to do in our lives, we want the full picture.  But, if He gave us the full picture what faith would our lives require? None, because we would already know our lives from beginning to end.  There would be no cliff to walk, or leap of faith that seems almost impossible.  Instead, God gives us a vision and then says walk.  He doesn’t give us the blueprint, but He asks us to trust in Him and have faith.  God wants us to ask what He is doing in the here and now, so that we can be in constant communication, focusing on His purpose moment to moment.  Not focusing on what will happen day to day, month to month, or even year to year.

This can be hard, to trust God with our whole lives, when we come from a culture where everything depends on you and what you do with your life.  So many times we say “well I don’t feel God leading me, I don’t feel what His plan is for my life.”  We feel like God has stopped communicating with us, that He no longer is walking beside us and directing our steps.   Yet, God tells us right in this verse what we are to do and in those times of silence God is asking us, “Do you still trust Me, will you take the step of faith?”  He says to seek Him and His righteousness, and we are to do it with our whole hearts.  If we are truly seeking Him diligently, as it says in Hebrews 11:6, “He reward those who seek Him with their whole heart.”  We are just required to continue in our walk and trust in His promise to finish in us the work that He has started.