Ramblings from Retirement – Trust

 Ramblings from Retirement – Trust
By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen
June 2, 2021

Sometimes we can become so myopic in our daily lives that we forget the people around us or the Lord who made us. Jesus reminded his listeners that the two greatest commandments were to love God totally and others like you love yourself. Fussing or fretting about things you have no control over can lead to anxiety and frustration with your circumstances. Yet when we focus on loving God as we should and loving others as he commanded the things we have no control over seem to fade into the background where they belong.

I used to fret about family members who did not know the Lord and I began to wonder if God was actually listening to me when I prayed about my concern for them. I was gently reminded by a brother in Christ that perhaps my prayers were not really for the benefit of those I was praying for but to satisfy my selfish needs. Of course at first I was offended that he would claim I was being selfish when I was praying for the salvation of those I deeply cared about. And then I begin to realize that he was correct because I had not truly given those I was praying for over to the Lord in the first place. I had not trusted God to do what he desired in the lives of the people I was praying for! I discovered that my earnestness, consistency, and faithfulness to pray for them had become a psychological spiritual excuse to blame God or feel guilt!

So how do we solve this problem because aren’t we supposed to pray for those that are lost and those we love to come to Christ? And of course we are but we have to learn how to give them to the Lord and leave it in his hands. To do otherwise is not to trust in him or his ability to do what he has planned. We must remember that God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. 

The best place to begin I believe is to remember the words of the Psalmist who wrote: “Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he, who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalms 100:1-5 NIV)” When we begin to shout for joy and praise God for who he is and what he has done we will rediscover the joy of allowing God to work his will they way he will. Our prayers are not to be self-satisfying in order to meet our needs, emotions, and wants but rather a place where we begin to converse with the Creator of all things and allow him to work in us and others.

Now I know dear child of the Lord that you might be concerned for those you pray for and I am not saying you should not be but rather begin to allow God to be the Lord of those whom you are praying for; give them over to the Lord. As you do you will find a greater freedom in your prayers and your anxieties will fade to the background as they should. Remember the words of the writer of Proverbs to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)” Trust in the Lord and “Know that the LORD is God. It is he, who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” It is a matter of trust.

This article is copyrighted © 2021 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.

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