Last week I had surgery to repair the meniscus
on my right knee. Too many sleepless nights and painful years had taken me to a
‘fork-in-the-road’ of decision that it was time to get it repaired.
Mentally, this surgery recovery time has been
difficult for me. No, not more difficult than any of my other surgeries. But it
took longer than I thought it would. Part of this was because prior to surgery,
my surgeon said that when he had this surgery, the next day he was on a bike.
Cathy
jokes that perhaps when he sat on the bike, his wife said to him; "Hey,
get back to bed; you shouldn’t be doing that!"
The surgery did go very well and after two
days, because I had a lot of meetings and because I didn’t really have any
pain, I went back to work.
But at the end of the day, my knee swelled up
and made it difficult to walk or be comfortable so I decided that I needed to
work from home; which, with technology and a great staff, should have been easy
to do.
I say; ‘should have been’ because I really
don’t like depending on others to take care of me or to do things for me. And
because at work there were many fires that needed my attention and I was stuck trying
to run the world laying in a bed in one of our guest rooms with my leg packed
in ice and propped up as I tried to let my body heal.
And, to make matters worse, a squirrel was
outside chewing on the soffits just outside the bedroom I was in! I knew how
quickly a squirrel could damage a house and my mind went crash!
I wanted to let the staff try to do their jobs,
but in-between emails, texts, and phone calls, I had way too much time on my
hands to think and mentally get off track.
So, as I lay here writing this, I must admit I
don't trust God as much as I think I do. Oh, I have trust for others, but I
still look to myself to get stuff done. I trust my ability to work and my
brains to complete tasks. But, my trust is really in me;
not in God.
This was driven home to me when a coworker sent
an email to me that said; "Tom, will
you stop playing superman and take the rest and time necessary for your body to
heal, please?!"
As I pondered his words, I thought about the
theme message for our church.
Every year at church we have a theme message as
a way to get some direction as to where we believe God is leading us as a
congregation. Some of the themes in the past
have been "joy", "simple devotion", and
"thriving".
The theme is then woven into messages throughout
the year sort of an anchor cornerstone for reference to what
"prophetically "the Lord is saying to us as a congregation. Occasionally, I will hear that other congregations have
the same or similar theme for their church as our church does… which makes me
sit up and ponder what He is saying to the larger Body of Christ.
This year our theme is; “A Year of Increasing Trust”.
When I first heard of the theme I didn't think
about it because I think that I do trust God…which basically means: ‘confident expectation of something or
someone; hope, to rely upon’.
He has been faithful over and over and over
again. He has been our provider and confidant. He has proven David’s words from
Psalm 37:25 which says; “Once I was young,
and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or
their children begging for bread.”
But the theme is trust that is “increasing” which
basically means: ‘to make greater, as in number, size, strength, or quality; enlarging;
augmenting’.
This is about increasing trust in HIM for:
finances, healing, others to do the work that I need to get done, in the team
in my life.
Even as I write this I think about all the other
times I've had surgery and wondered when I would be able to run the world all
by myself again. I thought about when I wondered when my hands would finally be
able to work again, when my ankle would finally work again, when my shoulder
finally work again. Today all of them work excellently.
Do I trust that God's presence is enough? What
has God promised? What is the problem for you personally? What has He promised
us as His children? What is the potential? What are the problems, giants,
walls? How do we discover and obey God’s strategy?
What can I do to increase and trust? How will I
study, meditate on, and obey God's word? What will I pray against? Say, "I
trust you Jesus”; and then ask.
No, this was a new opportunity for me to trust
God for everything.
Let me say that again: everything!
He wants ME to INCREASE in my trust in Him. To
look to Him. To believe Him.
He wants me to simply trust Him to increase my
trust in Him.
Trust Him that He will do the work.
Trust that He will bring the increase and show
His faithfulness once again.
“God answer you on the
day you crash,
The name God-of-Jacob put you
out of harm’s reach,
Send reinforcements from Holy
Hill,
Dispatch from Zion fresh
supplies,
Exclaim over your offerings,
Celebrate your sacrifices,
Give you what your heart
desires,
Accomplish your plans.” (Psalm
20:1-4 MSG)
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996,
2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson