Moment With Betty

Jeremiah 17: 7, says’’ I will bless those who put their trust in me.’’

A story was told about a man who recently got wedded to his beloved wife in a far distant town, far away from his home. He had to go through the river to get to the home of his beloved wife. The man is well known as a mighty warrior but does not joke with his prayers especially his rosary.

So, after the marriage, he was returning home with his wife and both of them were on a boat. On their way home, they encountered a huge and disturbing storm. The woman became so afraid that they would sink inside the river but the man sat silently reciting the rosary. The storm later became massive and was pushing the boat to sink it. Still, the man sat silently, calm and quiet, praying his rosary. The wife became so worried and deeply afraid and out of fear, she shouted at the man’’ what do you say you are doing? we are dying and you are not doing anything, are you not afraid that our lives could end here?

At this time, the man smiled and took his sword out of the sheath, brought the naked sword close to the neck of the woman as if to slit her throat. The woman could not understand what he was trying to do , the man then asked her ‘’are you not afraid that l am going to slit your throat and throw you into the river.? The woman began to laugh and said to him. ‘’It is impossible because you can’t do it. Will your heart allow you to?  l am not afraid. For the fact that the sword is in your hands, why should l be afraid? I know you love me and will not harm me.’’ Then the man put the sword back and said to her.’’ The way you trust that l will not harm you, that is how l trust that my God will not harm me’’.

 The man continued, ‘’the storm is in the hands of God and not in our hands so, even if l shout from morning until night, even if l fear and shout like you, if we are going to die, we will die.  Therefore, instead of doing that, l place my trust in the loving hands of God’’. So, whatsoever is going to happen will come from Him. If He saves us good, if He allows us to perish, good too.  Everything is in His hands. I place my trust in Him and not in my shouting and crying, what l do does not matter. What matters is what God decides to do at this time.  Therefore, crying and shouting is not the best thing to do.  They cannot solve anything either. Amazing! what a trust. So, to trust in God always is a secret of salvation, divine breakthrough and eternal life. Whoever does this wins the heart of God and receives His blessing.!

Many times, we sing the praises of people whom we expect to benefit from more than we sing praises to God. We also become afraid of them more than we are afraid of God. Many Christians will go to any length to win the heart of a person but make little or no effort to win the heart of God. Again, we sometimes trust in our power rather than trusting in God’s omnipotent power. It is said in the scripture that ‘’He who puts his trust in God even when it seems that the boat is sinking will be saved and such person invites unlimited blessing from God’’. What ‘am l saying ? . Simple, trust God always even when you do not understand or life does not make sense to you because when everything is in His hands, we need not fear.

When we trust in God, we gain spiritual strength and stability and as Jeremiah 17: 7- 8 says, ” But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” We have also read about some of the men who trusted God in the bible and the blessings they received. For example; Abraham, God told Abraham to leave his homeland and go to an unknown place. He obeyed without question. Later, God tested his faith by asking him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham trusted God, and at the last moment, God provided a ram as a substitute God made him the father of many nations and promised that through his offspring, all nations would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-4, 22:1-18). David is another person, as a young shepherd, David trusted God when he faced the giant Goliath with just a sling and stones. He defeated Goliath, gained favor, and later became king of Israel. Job also lost his wealth, family, and health but never stopped trusting God and God restored everything to him, giving him double what he had before. In fact , there many more people as we learned in the scriptures who trusted God and received blessings for their trust in God.

Let us therefore learn to trust God always because trusting in God leads to peace, strength, and divine blessings. No matter the circumstances, God remains faithful to those who rely on Him.