How many times in one day do we question the power of God? Some days it might feel like every five minutes. We question if God is really here with us. We question if God really cares about us. We question if God is interested in our problems at all. Whenever we experience difficulties and struggles, our faith is tested and we often question God, but the first reading today tells us that:
“The Lord is with me, like a mighty champion.”
When I read the first reading, I immediately thought of my own trust in the Lord. It is a very reassuring reading because we read not only about our enemies and those who would like to see us fail, but also about God. God is right there with us, even when wicked people are gossiping about us, or mean us harm.
A few prayers stuck out in my mind when I read those words. A very popular reflection on trust in the Lord is the Footprints poem. Another wonderful prayer is by Mother Teresa called the Anyway poem. Psalm 23 is also one of my favorite verses in the Bible. God is always with us! It is always between God and ouselves, and even when we walk through dark times, we still have nothing to fear with the Lord by our side.
Some people may hesitate to place their trust in the Lord, after reading in today’s gospel that He ran away from the Jews and escaped across the Jordan. How can we trust in the Lord if He does not even stick around to defend Himself? This is not the time for the Lord to be arrested, charged and convicted of any crimes though. Jesus made many references during His public ministry to His passion and death. He already knew the exact day and hour that His passion would begin.
Jesus did not run away because He was scared, or because He did not want to defend Himself; Jesus escaped because He knew that it was not yet His hour. Just as all human beings are born with the incredible gift of free will, Jesus was also born with free will. He could have changed the schedule of His public ministry if he wanted to, but Jesus had absolute faith and trust in His father and in what He was sent to earth to accomplish. We are also called to use our own gift of free will, to place our faith and trust in the Lord.
I think that is one lesson from Jesus that I sometimes overlook – that Jesus was the one who taught us to trust in God. I know other lessons that Jesus taught in His public ministry such as clothe the naked, visit the sick, love your neighbor as yourself, but the example to trust in God is sometimes pushed to the back burner. It is a lesson that we need to remember every day, because not one single day goes by when we are not challenged in some way. It is necessary to place our trust in the Lord in all the circumstances of our lives. God does not require it from us every day, but that does not mean we should ignore Him for more than 24 hours either.
What an awesome combination today’s first reading and Gospel make! We are reminded to trust in God (in the first reading) because He knows exactly what He is doing (in today’s Gospel).
