Trust Him

Photo: Inner Harbour Whenuapai

by Ana Lisa de Jong 

Ask yourself.

What direction do you want to take?
Smooth as water,
which knows its way;
or fighting the current
for wasted gain?

Let go.

Don’t hold on tight.
God’s river runs wide, and carries us all.
His blessings kept safe,
and His purpose sure,
in His river of deep shalom.

Abide.

Don’t fight the tide.
Surrender to the waves that come.
Dive deep, to where the world grows dim.
It’s there you find your pathway clear,
gleaming as the sun.

Follow Him.

Believe He knows what is good.
He draws the ocean by the moon.
How much more has He determined,
your small affairs,
of great worth to Him.

Trust Him.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
I felt this poem gathering momentum in my mind all day; as at work, I handled the normal stresses of the day, and tried to tap into God to keep my inner peace. I am fortunate in my work as an administrator for a Defence Chaplaincy department, to have a chapel to retreat to, and it was on my way home I took a few minutes out. I recall thinking how, even though we know better, we find ourselves feeling we need to work to please Him; or even find ourselves thinking maybe we should keep going our own way, until we have redeemed ourselves enough in our eyes to come into His presence.

On that thought, I picked up the Baptist Hymn Book and read these words from the hymn ‘Happy Band of Pilgrims’, written by John Mason Neale (1862).

‘The trials that beset you,
the sorrows ye endure,
the manifold temptations
that Death alone can cure,–

What are they, but his jewels
of right celestial worth?
What are they but the ladder,
set up to heaven on earth?’

I felt God impress on me the truth that we are to come into His presence, just as we are. Our struggles are of great import to Him, our humanity precious in His sight. By being real with God and open to Him, we find the way into His presence (as John Neale wrote, these things are but a ladder set up to heaven on earth). It’s in God’s presence we come to know Him, and know ourselves known by Him. It’s by abiding in God’s presence that we understand ourselves as His beloved, and know a deep sense of belonging. And we find ourselves transforming slowly to reflect Him; as our desire becomes more and more to please and honour Him. And if we believe ourselves to have failed in pleasing Him, it’s a soft landing – as we are held fast by God, in His river of grace.