What do you want?
Heading, now, toward the coffee shop in the predawn darkness, ready to start a new day and a new column, I heard the whisper.
“What is it that you want?”
Oh. Well, I could think of a number of things immediately, but that wasn’t what He meant, I knew.
“Peace,” I said to The Presence. “Peace and rest and a contentment with what I have right now.”
Silence. And this is what came next: “What do You want?”
“Utter trust.” Just that quickly came His reply.
Trust. Utter, abandoned, total, complete trust in the Blessed Controller of all things. And wasn’t that the key? Wasn’t that the answer, the remedy, the antidote for my current conditions? Oh, it was.
Sitting at that familiar spot, sky still dark outside the plate glass window, I opened His word, fresh coffee steaming beside me. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. The Lord (oh, yes!) will fulfill His purpose for me.” My spirit quickened, felt the life and power contained within the words.
“You hem me in behind and before. You have laid Your hand upon me.”
Ah, and there it was. In those ancient words, yet vital and new, lay the secret to trusting utterly.
“Before me, God is. Behind me, God is. Over me, God is. Beneath and on every side, there, too, He is. I know that today’s circumstances are ordained by Him. I receive them as from His hand, trusting that He best knows how to bring the answer to my prayers, and this is the way.” – journal entry, 08/31/11
Speaking of circumstances, dear one, and speaking of peace and rest and being content with what we have and with what we don’t, what about this? What if what we have right now is His way of getting us to where we really want to be?
The God who hems us in behind and before, who has promised to “perfect that which concerneth us” and to “fulfill His purpose” for us, surely knows what He’s about. We can trust Him, you and I, with the details of our lives today, this week, this month, this year, and we can give thanks that at this very moment, He is working all things out for our good.
Utter trust will surely bring the utter peace, quiet rest, and true contentment for which my heart (and yours?) is longing.