Posted on 10/01/2015 7:39:56 AM PDT by Salvation
We are often told to trust in God. And most of us have counseled others who are anxious or downcast to trust in God. But what does it mean?
In too many cases what people mean when they counsel trust is this: “Don’t worry, God will eventually give you what you’re looking for. Just keep praying and trust that He’ll come through for you.” What is meant by “coming through for you” is some answer on your terms; it’s as if to say, “God will eventually come around to your way of thinking. Hang in there and wait for God to answer (your way). He’ll take care of things (in a way that pleases you).”
But this is not trust.
To trust is to move to a stable conviction that whatever God decides to do is all right with me. Trusting God means being at peace with what He does, what He decides. To trust God is to accept that God often acts in paradoxical ways, in ways that are different from, or even contrary to, our notions of what is best. God often permits evils for some greater good, even if this greater good is hidden from us at this moment.
At the foot of the Cross we realize that a total disaster can produce immense good. We call that terrible day “Good Friday” for a reason. The apparent “total loss” of that day ushered in the New Covenant and made more than enough grace and mercy available to save the entire human race—if we but ask.
Many of us have experienced difficulties that were quite devastating to us at the time. In some cases we can look back now and understand why God permitted them. We can see how we grew from the experience, or how new opportunities were opened to us that, while they were not our first choice, were in fact the best choice.
Some other difficulties we went through still make little sense to us. But if we have learned to trust God, we can be at peace with His apparent “No” to our preferred outcome. Trust says, “It is well with my soul.”
An old hymn with that title says,
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
And that is trust: the ability to say, “Whatever my lot, it is well with my soul.” It is not wrong to present our wants and wishes to God. But trust is being at peace with God’s answer and not resentful of it. Instead, trust says, “It is well.”
We are forever asking God to bless what we are doing. But when do we ever seek what God is blessing and then go do that?
Trusting God doesn’t mean that He’ll eventually give me what I want. Trusting God means I’ll be at peace with whatever He wants; knowing that He wants it is enough for me; there is peace and it is well with my soul.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
...and the grace to go through it. Amen
Good article.
Amen! Good article.
I’m not Catholic, but more often than not I agree with what he writes. Good article.
But the Msgr. is quoting a Protestant hymn! Where is the outrage from traditionalists who censure such us in their cultic defense of Mother Church?
"It Is Well With My Soul" is a hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss. First published in Gospel Songs No. 2 by Sankey and Bliss (1876), it is possibly the most influential and enduring in the Bliss repertoire and is often taken as a choral model, appearing in hymnals of a wide variety of Christian fellowships.[2]
This hymn was written after traumatic events in Spafford's life. The first was the 1871 Great Chicago Fire, which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer and had invested significantly in property in the area of Chicago that was extensively damaged by the great fire). His business interests were further hit by the economic downturn of 1873, at which time he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre. In a late change of plan, he sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire.
While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sea vessel, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone …". Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.[3] Bliss called his tune Ville du Havre, from the name of the stricken vessel.[4]
he Spaffords later had three more children. On February 11, 1880, their son, Horatio Goertner Spafford, died at the age of four, of scarlet fever. Their daughters were Bertha Hedges Spafford (born March 24, 1878) and Grace Spafford (born January 18, 1881). Their Presbyterian church regarded their tragedy as divine punishment. In response, the Spaffords formed their own Messianic sect, dubbed "the Overcomers" by American press. In 1881, the Spaffords, including baby Bertha and newborn Grace, set sail for Ottoman-Turkish Palestine. The Spaffords settled in Jerusalem and helped found a group called the American Colony. Colony members, later joined by Swedish Christians, engaged in philanthropic work among the people of Jerusalem regardless of their religious affiliation and without proselytizing motives—thereby gaining the trust of the local Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities. During and immediately after World War I, the American Colony played a critical role in supporting these communities through the great suffering and deprivations by running soup kitchens, hospitals, orphanages and other charitable ventures. The colony later became the subject of the Nobel prize-winning Jerusalem, by Swedish novelist Selma Lagerlöf.[3] < - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Is_Well_with_My_Soul/font>
I am still not at the place where i can sing all of this song in all circumstances...
Thank you for posting!
This is an excellent message that doesn’t get taught in church too often anymore, Yet is essential!!!
I’m not Catholic, either, but yeah, I found this article nailed trust perfectly (which, amazingly, is what I have been thinking a lot about lately).
So I’m not getting the Mercedes ?
Have you ever seen a Catholic hymnal? It’s full of hymns written by Protestants. The next time you are passing by a Catholic church stop in and flip through the one. If you know Spafford you’ll probably recognize dozens of other Protestant hymn writers.
I know some very traditional Catholics and they would all prefer a well-written, beautiful Protestant hymn to pretty much anything written in the decade after Vatican II. But maybe that’s because a high proportion of them are former Protestants.
By the way, protestant hymnals also contain many hymns written by Catholics (cf. The Episcopal Hymnal of 1940).
Fantastic thanks for posting. I sort-of knew this before but it was never as clear in my mind as it is after having read this article.
Sometimes that is hard to do - like when praying for a friend to recover from illness.
This doesn’t happen very often but I completely agree with what the author is saying here. Unfortunately, this lesson all to often has to be learned by experience.
Thank you for posting this. It has been one of those days and this was exactly the thing I needed to have presented to me today. again thank you.
——In too many cases what people mean when they counsel trust is this: “Don’t worry, God will eventually give you what you’re looking for. Just keep praying and trust that He’ll come through for you.” What is meant by “coming through for you” is some answer on your terms; it’s as if to say, “God will eventually come around to your way of thinking. Hang in there and wait for God to answer (yourway). He’ll take care of things (in a way that pleases you).”
But this is not trust.——
Any Christian who thinks this way probably needs to dust off their Bible and read it...
or start attending a church teaches truth...not ear tickling nonsense...
Short version, from Alcoholics Anonymous:
“Thy Will Be Done, Not Mine.”
No Mercedes, but maybe a Lamborgini.
OUTRAGE! OUTRAGE!
Will that do? :o)
.
.
Didn't most hymns find their source in monastic choirs? Read that on Google when I asked about the source of most Protestant hymns.
Also, Protestants aren't protesting anymore, are they? Now it's a misnomer, I think.
I’ve always known that God gives us what we need. He WOULD know, wouldn’t He, since He created our immortal souls?
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