Trust in the Lord
Introduction
One of the biggest obstacles to faith is the suffering of the innocent. It is usually one of the first questions raised in an Alpha small group: ‘If there is a God who loves us, how come there is so much suffering in the world? How come there is such injustice and oppression?
These are very important and necessary questions but there are no easy answers. Yet God is able to meet us in the midst of suffering and struggles. Extraordinarily, it is often the people who have gone through the greatest suffering who have the strongest faith. They testify to the presence of God with them, strengthening and comforting them in the midst of their pain. Betsie ten Boom, as she lay dying in Ravensbrück concentration camp, turned to her sister Corrie and said, ‘We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here.’
Faith involves trusting in the Lord. The people of God in the Bible looked out on a world of suffering. But they trusted in the Lord despite what they saw.
Psalm 82:1–8
A psalm of Asaph.
1 God presides in the great assembly;
he renders judgment among the “gods”:
2 “How long will you defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “I said, ‘You are “gods”;
you are all sons of the Most High.’
7 But you will die like mere mortals;
you will fall like every other ruler.”
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.
Commentary
Trust in the Lord in the midst of injustice and oppression
How do we respond to all the injustice in the world? The psalmist trusts that ultimately God will put things right: ‘You’ve got the whole world in your hands!’ (v.8b, MSG).
It is a great blessing to live under a good system of justice. It is a terrible curse to live under corrupt and incompetent judges. But ultimately, God will call them to account.
‘God presides’ over all other expressions of power (‘gods’) (v.1). Trust that God is ‘President’ – he is in ultimate control.
‘God… puts all the judges in the dock. “Enough! You’ve corrupted justice long enough”’ (v.2, MSG). But faith in God’s ‘presidency’ should never lead to complacency or passivity. The psalmist is passionate to see the world changed.
We are not only to trust God but also we have a duty to do everything within our power to see that justice is done. We must act on behalf of the poor: ‘Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked’ (vv.3–4).
A time will come when things will be put right; injustice will be removed and there will be deliverance from, for example, corrupt governments. He prays: ‘Rise up, O God, judge the earth’ (v.8a).
While we too hope in God’s final judgment, we anticipate that justice by acting now on behalf of the poor and oppressed. We should raise the same challenge to those in power, ‘How long will you defend the cause of the unjust?’
Prayer
Acts 27:13–44
The Storm
13 When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. 14 Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. 15 The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure, 17 so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. 18 We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. 19 On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
21 After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22 But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23 Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me 24 and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. 26 Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”
The Shipwreck
27 On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. 28 They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. 29 Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. 30 In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31 Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.
33 Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. 34 Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” 35 After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. 36 They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board. 38 When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
39 When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 40 Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. 41 But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.
42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. 43 But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. 44 The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.
Commentary
Trust in the Lord in the midst of disaster and turmoil
When things go wrong in your life are you sometimes tempted to panic? I know that I am. If everything is going well in our lives, it is relatively easy to trust in the Lord. However, there are times when we face major challenges to our faith. Among his many challenges, trials and sufferings, Paul was shipwrecked three times (2 Corinthians 11:23b–25).
In today’s passage, we read of one of these occasions. At first it looked as if Paul had been wrong in predicting disaster as the weather was perfect for the journey (Acts 27:13), but then a hurricane began (v.14). It must have been a terrifying experience. Luke writes, ‘[they] finally gave up all hope of being saved’ (v.20).
Yet, Paul kept on trusting in the Lord, telling those on board to ‘have faith in God’, that God was still in control and that he had promised to rescue them (vv.23–25).
It took this disaster for them to listen to Paul. Extraordinarily, Paul the prisoner appears to be completely in charge. He tells them, ‘you really should have listened to me’ (v.21, MSG). He is the one who stops the sailors jumping ship (v.30).
This is a great example of leadership without title or position. The best leaders are able to lead, in whatever circumstances, by influence and persuasion.
The turmoil gave Paul an opportunity to speak about his faith. He takes the opportunity although he must have been suffering greatly from hunger and the effects of the storm.
Paul saw himself as belonging to God (‘the God whose I am’) and being his servant (‘whom I serve’) (v.23). But God was not only his owner and master; Paul trusted God and had a deep assurance of his love. He knew that God wanted the very best for him, as he does for you today.
Paul assured them, ‘Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head’ (v.34). And, ‘after he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat’ (v.35).
In spite of disaster striking, God was in ultimate control: ‘The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan’ (vv.42–43a).
God gave Paul favour in the eyes of people as well as in God’s own eyes. As a result, ‘everyone reached land in safety’ (v.44).
Nothing could stop God from saving Paul and using him to work out his purposes and save lives.
Prayer
2 Kings 18:1–19:13
Hezekiah King of Judah
18 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)
5 Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the LORD and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. 7 And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.
9 In King Hezekiah’s fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. 10 At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah’s sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. 11 The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes. 12 This happened because they had not obeyed the LORD their God, but had violated his covenant —all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.
13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
16 At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
17 The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 18 They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.
19 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:
“‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? 20 You say you have the counsel and the might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? 21 Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 22 But if you say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?
23 “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! 24 How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 25 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”
26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
27 But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
28 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. 30 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
31 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, 32 until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death!
“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ 33 Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 35 Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
36 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.
Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold
19 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. 2 He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. 4 It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”
5 When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword. ’”
8 When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
9 Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: 10 “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”
Commentary
Trust in the Lord in the midst of evil and distress
It is such a relief to read, at last, about a man who ‘trusted in the Lord’ (18:5). Hezekiah ‘trusted in, leaned on and was confident in the Lord’ (v.5, AMP). He put his whole trust in the God of Israel… And God, for his part, held fast to him through all his adventures’ (vv.5–6, MSG).
When Hezekiah became king, one of his first actions was to destroy all the things that prevented the people from obeying God (vv.1–4). Perhaps there are things in your life that are a barrier to you obeying God. Although they may seem vital, there is nothing as vital as obedience to God. God wants to help us to obey him – ask him and he will honour you as he honoured Hezekiah: ‘And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook’ (v.7).
In 701 BC, Hezekiah faced a very powerful enemy in the form of the king of Assyria who mocked and ridiculed him. This story is not fictional; you can read about these historical events not only in the Bible but also in other ancient accounts. In Sennacherib’s account of these events he writes, ‘As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke.’ He speaks arrogantly about Hezekiah being overwhelmed by ‘the terror inspiring splendour of my lordship’.
Sennacherib scorned Hezekiah’s dependence on the Lord (vv.20,22): ‘Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord… he is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will deliver us.”’ (vv.30–32).
Somehow Hezekiah must have won the respect of his people because they followed his instructions: ‘But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”’ (v.36).
In the face of his powerful enemy, Hezekiah prayed. ‘He tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord’ (19:1). A delegation went to the prophet Isaiah and told him, ‘This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace… pray for the remnant that still survives’ (vv.3–4).
Isaiah’s response was, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard’ (v.6). Not only did Hezekiah himself trust in the Lord, but he also persuaded the people to trust in the Lord.
Over the years, I have written beside this passage a list of the challenges we have faced. It is amazing to look back over the years and see the way in which God has delivered us in so many areas.
Today, whatever challenges you are facing, write them down, put your trust in God, believe that he will be with you and give you success in whatever he asks you to do.
Prayer
Pippa adds
Trust in God when things don’t look good.
We see this again in 2 Kings 18 and in Acts 27:33.
God can turn what seems impossible around.
Verse of the Day
Psalm 82:3
‘Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.’
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References
Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place (Hodder & Stoughton, 2004).
The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel (commentary formerly known as Bible in One Year) ©Alpha International 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Compilation of daily Bible readings © Hodder & Stoughton Limited 1988. Published by Hodder & Stoughton Limited as the Bible in One Year.
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.