Our Trust is in God

Trusting God through life’s storms.

All of our lives are riddled with storms. Winds and waves that seemingly come out of no where that rock the boat and can cause us to loose sight that our trust is in God to bring us through the storms of life.

This week our country was rocked by a terrible storm of life with scenes not seen in our country since 1814. This week our capital was over run with scenes of an insurrection happening right here in our country. As a soldier I felt anger, because the seat of democracy and the very constitution I swore an oath to protect against all enemies foreign and domestic, was under attack. After turning off the news and getting a good night sleep anger turned to confusion. Confused over what does this mean for the future of democracy? What does this mean for me as a minister?

As I was reading through Psalm 91 this week I noticed immediately, that this Psalm was journey through all of life’s storms and that God is with you and protects you through these storms. Storms in our lives have the ability for us to take our eyes, and our trust off God and shift it someplace it doesn’t belong. The central message to Psalm 91 isn’t one of protection from storms but one of trusting in God to carry us through the storms.

This week it was in remembering that my trust isn’t in democracy. My trust isn’t in our political institutions. My trust isn’t in presidents, senators or congress.

Psalm 91:2 NLT

2 This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

Whatever storm or curve ball life has thrown:

1-Put your trust in God

2-Take peace in knowing God carries you through life’s storms.

The journey is bumpy but God will get you through it.

Psalm of Trust

Psalm 91 is often referred to as a Psalm of protection and it is, but it is also a Psalm of trust. Because of the Psalmists trust in God he finds refuge and protection from the storms of life. The protection promised in Psalm 91 is not a promise of a trouble free existence, but is a promise that God will be with you, and carry you through those troubles. We must not allow life’s storms to alter that trust. We are human we might lose sight, or briefly find ourselves putting our trust where it doesn’t belong. But we the people of God must quickly remember where our trust lies.

-Our utter reliance on God-verse 4 baby birds utter reliance on their mother. We utterly rely on God to get us through the storms of life.

Psalm 91 begins and ends with trusting in God. In verse 2 the psalmist makes the bold declaration that his trust is in God. After this bold declaration we see the list of life’s storms that are rocking the boat of the psalmist.

-traps

-deadly disease

-war(arrow that flies by day)

-disasters

These come at all hours of the day and night. With all this going on around him the psalmist still boldly proclaims trust in God to carry him through it. And God will carry him through.

Psalm 91 ends with a declaration from God that begins in verse 14 and we will see here the word trust again.

Psalm 91:14 NLT

14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.

Life’s journey is riddled with storms, wind and waves that can shake our trust in God. Brothers and sisters as people of God it is important to not loose sight, loose hope, loose trust that God will conquer the evil winds that blow in our lives, he will one day heal the disease that plagues his world.

Our trust is in God, who will answer us when we cry out to him, he will be with us at times of trouble, and he will rescue us from the evils and chaos of our world.

As I walked through psalm 91 this week every time I thought of what this looks like in action, the two images that played out in my mind where the two Gospel accounts of Jesus and the disciples on the sea of Galilee.

Matthew 8:23–27 NLT

23 Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. 24 Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” 26 Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. 27 The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”

As we learned last week that wind represents the storms of evil that can cause us to shift focus, loose trust in God to carry us through. The use of water or a sea often in ancient texts represents chaos or the unknown. This scene in Matthew kept playing out in my mind as I wrestled with Psalm 91 this week. In it Christ followers are navigating through the chaos of life with God in the person of Jesus Christ, in the boat with them. An evil windy storm comes up that shakes their trust that God is right there with them. Panicked they wake up Jesus who has some how found peace enough in the midst of the storm to take a nap. Why are you afraid, you have such little faith? Jesus then rebukes the evil storm and the chaos of the waves and peace is restored to the boat.

The two biggest things we need to remember today are this

1, despite the storms that rage around us, the disease that stalks in the darkness of our world, we must put our trust in God.

2, It is in that trust that we truly find peace and salvation from life’s evil storms.

Trust in God

Last week God through psalm 91 reminded me of where my trust where our trust as the body of Christ needs to be. We do not put our trust in things of this earth, political institutions, presidents, democracy, the list can go on. Our trust is in God, and in that trust we find peace and salvation from the evils of this world.

Psalm 91 is an invitation for others to put their trust in God and find the peace and salvation found in Jesus Christ who is carrying us through life’s storms. It is also a reminder for those of us who trust him to boldly proclaim that no matter what evil storm arises in our lives our trust in God will not be shaken, as we utterly rely on him to carry us through.

Despite a pandemic, despite the civil unrest that has risen to insurrection, despite the individual storms that have rocked or are rocking your boat, may we like the psalmist boldly proclaim

Psalm 91:2 NLT

2 This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

It is in that trust God will guide us.