I have been reflecting recently on trust in God and what that means. Yesterday I read Isaiah 36, which tells the story of a desperate situation that King Hezekiah found himself in. Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, had captured over forty towns in Judah, and now his men were standing outside the walls of Jerusalem, mocking Hezekiah’s faith in his God. In human terms Hezekiah had reason to despair. Sennacherib had the might and the patience to besiege Jerusalem and there were no obvious grounds for hope. I had to wonder whether I would have managed to trust God in that situation.
This reminded me of a question we had to discuss in our tutor group recently. We had to imagine that we were smuggling Bibles in the roof of a camper van. Stopped at a border post, the guard inspects the vehicle, and just as he is about to step out he knocks the roof of the van and asks what is up there. We had to decide how we would answer – or to be precise, how we hope we would answer, since it’s difficult to know how we would really react in such a tense situation! After a lot of reflection, I decided that I hoped I’d tell the truth. I couldn’t feel comfortable with lying, even in God’s service, and I think it would be a way of showing I totally trusted Him to deal with the situation. After all, I have heard stories of amazing things happening when people smuggle Bibles – border guards not seeing things that are right in front of their eyes, or being interested in the Gospel and so taking a Bible and letting the vehicle through.
However, when we had to imagine that someone in our party had a gun against their head when the question was asked, I did find it more difficult to answer. It doesn’t change my argument, everything I thought is still true … but would I trust God when the stakes were higher? I think it’s impossible to know before you actually find yourself in such a situation, and if I was ever to face such a challenge, I pray that God would give me the grace and the faith to act as He wanted me to.
Both the Bible and the Assyrian annals record that Sennacherib retreated and didn’t attack Jerusalem … and God says to Hezekiah, through Isaiah, that it is because (without knowing it) the Assyrian king is just an instrument in His hands. Which raises other questions that I’m not going to go into now, but does also show us how God, in His sovereignty, always sees a bigger picture than us!
This reminded me of a question we had to discuss in our tutor group recently. We had to imagine that we were smuggling Bibles in the roof of a camper van. Stopped at a border post, the guard inspects the vehicle, and just as he is about to step out he knocks the roof of the van and asks what is up there. We had to decide how we would answer – or to be precise, how we hope we would answer, since it’s difficult to know how we would really react in such a tense situation! After a lot of reflection, I decided that I hoped I’d tell the truth. I couldn’t feel comfortable with lying, even in God’s service, and I think it would be a way of showing I totally trusted Him to deal with the situation. After all, I have heard stories of amazing things happening when people smuggle Bibles – border guards not seeing things that are right in front of their eyes, or being interested in the Gospel and so taking a Bible and letting the vehicle through.
However, when we had to imagine that someone in our party had a gun against their head when the question was asked, I did find it more difficult to answer. It doesn’t change my argument, everything I thought is still true … but would I trust God when the stakes were higher? I think it’s impossible to know before you actually find yourself in such a situation, and if I was ever to face such a challenge, I pray that God would give me the grace and the faith to act as He wanted me to.
Both the Bible and the Assyrian annals record that Sennacherib retreated and didn’t attack Jerusalem … and God says to Hezekiah, through Isaiah, that it is because (without knowing it) the Assyrian king is just an instrument in His hands. Which raises other questions that I’m not going to go into now, but does also show us how God, in His sovereignty, always sees a bigger picture than us!
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