Trusting God - is it safe or risky?

Without trust, it is impossible to have a relationship with God. How often must I learn this lesson?

Security is a myth without God, yet obeying God and keeping in step with the Holy Spirit feels like the riskiest thing on the planet – like bungee jumping without a chord. Leap and the safety net will appear!! In reality, though, walking in God’s will is the safest place I can be. But O does it take trust!

Here’s an example of what I mean from the Bible. Being an agricultural engineer, I would rather go for an irrigated crop than a rain-fed one. After all, who wants to depend on the elements? But true to character, God chose a rain-fed system for the special Land He chose for His people. Take a look:

10 The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.12 It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. (Deut. 11:10-12)

Irrigating “by foot” is exhausting work though the farmer has the illusion that he is in control. But who can resist the appeal of “a land of mountains and valleys that drinks the rain from heaven”? Even our little garden of flowers and shrubs seems to leap with joy after a shower of rain. Water from a hosepipe just does not have the same effect. I read somewhere that rain contains dissolved nitrogen which has been “fixed” from the air by lightening. This nitrogen then fertilises the plants it falls on.

However, depending on rain meant that Israel would have to trust God to send it. Further, the reliability of the rains would hinge on their obedience to God.

13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today-to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul-14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. (Deut. 11:13-15)

Now one might be persuaded to think that God was arm-twisting His people. He wasn’t. He was establishing an early warning system intended for their safety. One can live independent from God and make things work without Him. It is tempting to do this even as a Christian. But because we are depending on ourselves it is possible to stray dangerously far from God without realising it. Would it not be better to have an early warning system? The Israelites knew that drought and crop failure was a warning that they had drifted from God, their source of true life and all good things.

We should live life in such a way that failure will be inevitable without God’s help. In fact, this is how God wants you to live. So may you allow God to lead you into that risky place of abundant blessing where obedience requires trust and success hinges on Him.

Cheers for now - Ian

The Theology of Border Crossings

We spent over four and a half hours crossing the border from South Africa to Zimbabwe. It was hot and sweaty. And I discovered that most of my fellow sufferers in the queue had no concept of personal space. At one stage, the person behind had established full body contact with me from my left ankle to my right shoulder.

It was staggering. But we got through in the end. One usually does. We kept reminding ourselves that nobody has ever spent the rest of his or her life at a border post. At times, however, it felt like we had.

Eventually, the exit was in sight, but we almost drove over a ZIMRA inspector because he had the temerity to jump in front of our car when we thought that there was only a gate guard between us and freedom.

“Why are you in such a rush?” he asked.

Oh, how delicious it was to be zipping along again at 120km/h in an air conditioned car, weaving around potholes and police roadblocks. In fact, we were so relaxed that we slipped into a theological discussion ... as one does on such occasions.

It began when I shared with the family my temptation to falsify our customs declaration. I was anxious that some unreasonable ZIMRA official would apply an unfair duty on something we had to declare. I did the right thing in the end, having decided it was more important to honour God by being honest than to save a few thousand rand. But my confession led to an interesting discussion about anxiety.

Gail had been reading a book entitled Redemption by Mike Wilkerson. Wilkerson makes the piercing observation that idolatry leads to anxiety. For example, if one idolises money, one worries about having enough. And when one has enough, one worries about losing it. And because of the anxiety one adopts all sorts of unrighteous tactics to either make or hold onto money – like falsifying a customs declaration.

The same could be said for finding a spouse. How many women have compromised God’s standards for fear of becoming an old maid? How many people live with an irrational, nagging fear of losing a loved one? Then there is anxiety over health related issues. Could health and security have become idols which prevent you from serving God with an undivided heart?

It certainly got us thinking... how about you? But before you go – is it obvious that I’ve put on weight during my holiday? Not that I’m worried about it...

Cheers for now - Ian