He showed me today that trusting Him eventually led to becoming like Him. He started out with this scripture: Prov 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
I prayed that I would lean on His understanding and that in every place where I didn’t that I would. The part of this verse that stuck out was, “In all your ways acknowledge Him.” I have always cringed a bit to being totally open with Him, because this command is about full disclosure of all that we do. He then showed me that when we are open, basically showing our full face with Him, that He then can show His. We are then face to face. He also showed me that my fear of being confronted when open with everything, the bad and ugly stuff, that it was totally unfounded. Acknowledging it all was not about being confronted and being called to task to make amends and fall before Him in deep remorse. Acknowledging Him is about relationship, friendship, safety and security. In the midst of that safe warm place I find solutions and perspectives that never occurred to me. I then stop leaning on my own understanding, seeing things from His point of view. This also gives Him a chance to be uplifting and kind when I have fallen into deep despair or dread over something. If I am open, I am trusting Him and He picks me up in ways that are meaningful to me. In this learning environment I develop wisdom, understanding and truth. This means I become more like Him. To be like Him is to have peace.
Years ago I was really upset with someone who just drove me up the wall. I acknowledged this to the Lord sometimes feeling bad that I was not like Jesus with great compassion. In time I was comfortable in discussing my anger on a regular basis and nothing bad happened to me. I just felt like I was talking to my best friend who didn’t judge me, but just heard me. As time went on He said again and again to have peace, like a broken record and not unlike me continually repeating how angry I was. He out repeated me. I then began to see how very temporary the situation was compared to all eternity. Once I got that perspective I realized I had better things to do than waste my time on tantrums. Shortly thereafter the situation resolved itself and my ire had dissipated and the relationship was mended.
If we acknowledge Him in everything, in time He presents us with elegant solutions. He did not condemn me for being angry. He did not force me to make restitutions or any kind of penance. He just held me. He holds us right where we are in the midst of what we are going through and in time gives us new ways of looking at things. We become like Him seeing from His point of view and living like Him in peace and joy.
This whole thing about trusting Him is really in the end a call to become just like Him … straight in all our ways.
Here is a cute story: A daughter of a friend was upset with her mother and left her mom a note that read, “Dear Mom, I hate you. Love – Suzie Q.” A hilarious oxymoron. Their relationship continued to be just fine, but the point here is that the daughter felt secure enough in being real with someone who loved her. That’s us with the God of the universe, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega.