This last week I’ve enjoyed a flow of writing that came with a considerable ease. Like a familiar friend walking through the front door I’ve found my heart stirred with new melodies and lyrics. Some of these songs are not the typical form I’m used to. They’re a bit edgier with a little more attitude but the same spirit. One in particular that’s been on repeat has the working title of “Don’t Listen To The Liars”. Here are the words:

When you’re feeling kinda left behind

Hard to follow all the storyline

Well don’t worry dear cos time is gonna tell it right

And when they’re saying all they’ve said before

What they mean is that they just want more

But why eat the meal if it’s never gonna satisfy

Before too long, when the writing is still on the wall

We’ll be alright if we don’t choose sides

The Truth is the person of Jesus and I choose Him

So don’t listen to the liars cos they ain’t telling you the truth

They’re only out there starting fires but they won’t ever you give you proof

When the world starts heating up and they’re all choking on the fumes

Don’t you listen to those liar cos I am telling you, I am telling you the truth

In these lyrics I hear the simple message of trust. While tooling around the house, at various times throughout the day, one of the lines from the song will jump out of my mouth almost without warning. It’s in this place of creativity where I find an unseen force at work within. G.K. Chesterton describes this experience in his book Orthodoxy regarding the invention of the gospel. He writes, “God and humanity made it; and it made me.” This partnership between the human and the Divine allows us to see God being revealed in the “making of” as much as the “made”. With each line I write the Spirit sings another theme. Here I realize the song is writing me. When this happens all I really need to do is have my pen ready and my finger on the record button. The ethos of Heaven ever abounding with musical phrases, expositional themes, and literary devices only awaits me to lay hold of His beauty and majesty. By tuning my ears and serving the gift I’m involved in the creative narrative that brings something new into the world.

TRUST IS THE EXPERIENCE OF UNBROKEN RELIANCE UPON GOD

Going back to the subject of trust, I find it interesting that the word translated “trust” in the bible occurs 147 times (134 in the Old Testament, 13 in the New Testament). More than any other book in the bible, the Psalms (a songbook) records this word 44 times. This ancient hymnal of love songs, sad songs, war songs, etc. has the theme of trust woven all thoughout. We read lyrics by the psalmist’ pen like,

“Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother's breasts.” – 22:9

“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD.” – 40:3

“But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.” – 52:8

“Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.” - 143:8

To put it simply, trust is reliance. Jesus is trustworthy because He tells the truth, even at the cost of hurting my feelings. Yet, my love for Him grows all the more because “enemies multiply kisses, but wounds from a friend can be trusted” (Prov 27:6). Since feelings (emotions) can be some of the best liars, I need the guardrails of trusted friendship to spare me from the downward spiral of poor decisions. Feelings rise and fall like the foamy crest of waves breaking overhead. As quickly as feelings come they leave without even a kiss goodbye.

Last year, when I was going through some uncertain times and I needed to make some directional decisions, a good friend encouraged me with these words: “You’re never going to have this moment again to trust God with these circumstances.” He was so right. The proverbial light bulb went on above my head. It wasn’t that I’d never experienced uncertainty before. It was that I needed to hear those words in that moment from a trusted friend. In that moment he was being Jesus to me. I needed to be reminded that uncertainty is only an opportunity for God to display His glory. Taking matters into my own hands (not that I could have done anything about my circumstances at the time) would be an encroachment on God’s part in our relationship. Trusting Jesus has less to do with my ability and more to do with
Him being worthy of my trust. It would be mere silliness to conjure up in my own strength what comes so natural to a child, this reliance. It’s not even possible.

“Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track.”

The Message, Prov. 3:5-6

Much of my part in this relationship with Jesus is to rely on Him to do His part. In his book Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning writes,

“Like faith and hope, trust cannot be self-generated. I cannot simply will myself to trust. What outrageous irony: the one thing that I am responsible for throughout my life I cannot generate. The one thing I need to do I cannot do. But such is the meaning of radical dependence. It consists in theological virtues, in divinely ordained gifts. Why reproach myself for my lack of trust? Why waste time beating myself up for something I cannot affect?

What does lie within my power is paying attention to the faithfulness of Jesus. That’s what I’m asked to do: pay attention to Jesus throughout my journey, remembering His kindness (Ps. 103:2).

Pgs. 96,97

Often times trusting Jesus is evidenced by trusting our fellow man. Yes, it is scary considering the fact that “all men are liars”. Nonetheless, the enjoyment of the human experience, even with all it woes and uncertainties, is indubitably found in tried and true relationships, both with God and with man. And relationship cannot exist without trust. We must do our best to not listen to the liars, those insidious voices of suspicion and dissent. No, we must turn our ears to the familiar voice of our Father in heaven who comes to dialogue with us in a song or in a book. As Kierkegaard writes, “Life is lived forward but understood backward.” In the Christian life we start the same way we end, like the old hymn sings, “Leaning on the everlasting arms”. I tell you the truth.

Brother Andrew