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SPEAKING TO THE SOUL

No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.”
Psalm 25:3 NLT

Deceit is something we all dislike. Unsurprising, since it literally means “to ensnare and to cheat”. Plenty of TV dramas represent the illusions created by con artists to ensnare others to their disadvantage. Even when such dramas paint the ‘victim’ as a villain deserving of retribution, it again reduces justice to a flawed human equation. Judgment is mine, declares God (Romans 12:19), and not our responsibility.

Life lies beyond my control, and events can affect me and those I dearly love, often unjustly from my perspective. This is a perennial conundrum of human existence which the Psalms regularly consider. When life takes a turn for the worse, as dreams disintegrate before my eyes, I struggle to hold onto God and my mind seeks to blame him for my disaster.

It’s all too easy to attempt to take matters into our own hands. A friend of mine, discovering they had a terminal illness with no effective medical intervention available, travelled far and wide to attend healing meetings with the expectation God would heal them. Where in scripture is the promise first that God heals everyone or that the word “healing” applies exclusively to our physical mortality? At the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-10) surrounded by the seriously ill, Jesus healed just one and moved on.

When we fail to speak of our fear, of the battle we are having to maintain our faith, or the brutality of our life experience, we deceive ourselves and others, as if the way of grace, itself a gift from God, is easily attained. I have to battle with myself, my circumstances and my own understanding of God to find a means to continue to trust in the God I believe.

We are invited to trust God, even when our path takes us to where we don’t want to go and into circumstances we have no control over. The good news is that Jesus accompanies us in our lostness, confusion, pain and disappointment.

QUESTION
Have there been times where you believe God has let you down?

PRAYER
Lord, help me to value your presence more than what I think you can do for me.


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