Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:4-5 NIV
We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:18 NCV
Our responsibility and privilege as Christ-followers is to know Jesus Christ. He doesn’t simply know truth. He IS the Truth. In His own words He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). Knowing Him opens the door to wisdom and understanding we will never gain on our own.
The best time to start trusting God’s truth is before you are desperate. Read the Word of God, talk to Jesus, seek guidance and understanding from other followers who are a bit ahead of you in the journey. You will find desperation’s grip cannot get tighter than your grip on Truth.
But, if you haven’t gotten deeply acquainted with God’s truth, the good news is that the second-best time to start knowing and trusting God’s truth is now, when you are desperate. One big truth that strengthens us is that we are part of a much bigger story than we can imagine – it is the story of God’s love for us, the redemption story. We have all been separated from God and our true identity because of sin, and our life story is all about God loving us and bringing us back into His family, becoming like Jesus.
Dr. Larry Crabb says that we don’t tend to think in terms of forever. “We tend to live our lives between our birth and our death. In this life, we want God to give us what we’ve scripted for our smaller story that goes on in-between … The script I’ve written for my smaller story is not a script God always cooperates with, but He’s always advancing the script He’s written for the larger story. When problems come into my life and difficulties happen – the job is lost, cancer comes, or whatever it might be – we need to be aware that there is something God is doing here.”
Grabbing hold of that truth changes our perspective and gives us strength. We focus on what will last forever, not a temporary situation. We become available to God for Him to do His magnificent work in us in every situation; transformation that will last forever. Keeping our eyes on God’s truth allows us to not focus on getting out of the situation, but letting the situation do God’s work.
- Learning God’s Truth and trusting Jesus is a process. Take steps on the path today by making Psalm 25:4-5 your regular prayer.