Tuesday February 13, 2024

 

As we begin our journey through this NEW YEAR 2024 living in God's daily NEW MERCIES, I invite you to wander with me in pictures through one of Cartagena, Colombia's most fascinating neighborhoods: Getsemaní. Here, the streets of Getsemaní at night.

NEW YEAR, NEW MERCIES: DAY 14

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. ~Isaiah 26:3-4

Even though you’re a person of faith… there’s one thing you can be sure of—God will confuse you… There will be moments when you simply don’t understand what is going on. In fact, you will face moments when the situations that the God who has declared Himself to be good brings into your life won’t seem good. They may even seem bad, very bad.

Now, if your faith is based on your ability to fully understand your past, present, and future, then your moments of confusion will become moments of weakening faith. But the reality is that you are not left with only two options—understand everything and rest in peace or understand little and be tormented by anxiety. There is a third way. It really is the way of true biblical faith. The Bible tells you that real peace is found in resting in the wisdom of the One who holds all of your “what-ifs” and “if-onlys” in His loving hands.

Real, sturdy, lasting peace, peace that doesn’t rise and fall with circumstances, isn’t to be found in picking apart your life until you have understood all of the components. You will never understand it all because God, for your good and His glory, keeps some of it shrouded in mystery.

So peace is found only in trust, trust of the One who is in careful control of all the things that tend to rob you of your peace. He knows, He understands, He is in control of what appears to be chaos, He is never surprised, He is never confused, He never worries or loses a night’s sleep, He never walks off the job to take a rest, He never gets so busy with one thing that He neglects another, and He never plays favorites.

 

Thank You God, that my faith is not based on my ability to fully understand my past, my present and my future. My faith and peace rest in my confident trust in a God who loves me and rules all things for my good and for His glory.

+ REFLECTIONS