Thought for the Day - Monday 29 June

Thought for the Day – Monday 29^th June

‘My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.’ (Psalm 131)

Trust is defined as the reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety of a person or thing – in other words when you rely on that person or that thing you are displaying confidence in them and when you have a confident expectation of someone or something that gives you hope.

Well, when I was thinking about that definition I came to the conclusion that I must be a very trusting person indeed because I trust in my alarm clock to wake me in the morning, I trust in the shower and the hairdryer to work, then I trust in the kettle to boil, I trust in the fridge to keep my food cold, I trust in the washing machine and the dishwasher to clean my clothes and my dishes and that’s before I have even left the house in the morning!

Of course, following this example through I am sure you can see that all this trusting goes on and on throughout the day and into the night and I don’t know about you but I don’t think we ever really stop and consider this as trust but it is because we are relying on and having confidence in something or someone.

Putting our trust in people though is sometimes harder than putting our trust in things isn’t it?

Yet throughout our lives we have done just that because when you think about it from the moment we are born we have to put our trust in someone – be that parents, doctors, nurses, teachers, family members or friends.

So why do we find it so hard at times to put our trust in God – to rely on him unconditionally – to have confidence in him and his will for our lives – to look to the one who is our strength and hope?

I love the imagery of trust in this Psalm today – it brings to my mind the picture of a toddler calmly, quietly, happily and confidently walking alongside their mum, hand in hand as they so often do, content in each other’s company and bringing joy to each other in their contentment.

This is how we should be with God – our parent – calmly walking hand in hand, content and happy and confident in his love and care for us. Walking with him and trusting in him should bring to our lives great hope and a great contentment inside so much so that we need not concern ourselves with all those ‘greater matters’, simply being content in our mutually trusting relationship with him.    

I know toddlers can have their moments when they have a strop and turn from their parents and as adults we can have moments when we turn from God, our parent, too but we are always being called back to that wonderful, calming, trusting, hand in hand walking with God, who will be there for us always and forevermore and we can be confident that when we trust in God and walk hand in hand with him he will bring a contentment and happiness to our lives. 

  

‘Oh, for a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame….’

Prayer

Loving God,

Calm us, still us, weave silence on to our lips, into our minds, within our hearts and enfold us in your loving arms. Take our hands in yours and let your peace suppress all our fears, all the distractions which pull us from you, all the doubts within us which cause us anxiety. Help us to trust in you always that you may bring your hope to our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen