According to the ancient prophets, God is to be trusted above all things.  There are stories in the Bible that give examples of men and women who trusted God, as well as people who did not trust God.  As a general rule, the folks who trusted in God would eventually win out over those who did not.  Great things were gained by faith in God, and a terrible fate was often the end for lack of trust.

The entire Christian faith is centered on this primary theme : trust in the promises of God.  Jesus was born of a virgin, according to the promise of God through the prophets of old.  Jesus lived among us, a perfect human being who never sinned, according to the promises of God.  Jesus not only taught the truth of God, but He also suffered and died for the sins of us all, according to the promises of God.  And best of all, Jesus overcame the power of physical death by returning to life and walking out of the grave, according to the promises of God.

Of course, for many folks, all the teachings in Scripture, including the good news about Jesus Christ, is just so much ancient history.  What we need in our lives every day is something current and present and available right now.  It matters very little what the Bible or any of the ancient prophets said many centuries ago if we cannot experience God’s help where we live.

In the world of today we need miracles and direction for our lives that will bring about real and meaningful change.  We face physical limitations, mental limitations and emotional crippling that can shut off all hope of a life filled with purpose and accomplishments.  Many of us face challenges and difficulties that loom higher than mountains over our tiny human abilities to understand and cope.  Many of us have made terrible mistakes in the past that continue to shut us off from normal and happy lives.

Can God help us today?  Are the promises He made in the Holy Bible, through ancient prophets and apostles still valid today?  Can we trust what has been written and said about God by holy men and women who lived so many centuries ago?  Is it logical and useful for us to trust in God, to pray to Jesus Christ (or in His name) when we need real help right now?

I wish that I could speak for everyone when I say, Yes, we can and should trust God.  But the fact is, I can only speak for myself.  You must learn to depend on God for your own life.

Becoming a Christian by the spiritual new birth does require an act of faith.  To truly be born into God’s eternal and spiritual family, one must decide to believe in Jesus Christ for both the forgiveness of sin and for eternal life.  A great many people have made this wonderful step, and have started on the road to eternal life with Christ.

But this is not all there is to faith and trust in God.

I first believed — truly believed — in Jesus Christ at the age of 17.  That step of faith, as tiny as it was, brought about a huge and magnificent change in my life.  I changed paths, change masters, changed world-views, and changed my whole way of thinking.  I passed, as the Lord Jesus sometimes put, it from darkness and death to new life and light in God.

Yet even after that wonderful and awesome transformation, I lost so many battles between faith and doubt that I eventually fell back into much of the darkness from which I had been saved by Jesus.  Did Jesus fail me?  Was His power too little or too late to keep me “saved” as Christians sometimes say it?  Hardly.  The power of Jesus Christ is what brought the universe itself into existence.  The power of His will and His Word holds it all together to this very day.  No, Christ did not fail me.

I simply lost sight of the truth in my life.  I became so preoccupied with my own weaknesses and failings that I failed to notice that the Lord Jesus was still (and always) right there.  And so I focused on the darkness around me instead of the brilliant and perfect light before me.

Jesus allowed me to go through that dark time so that I would remember that the spiritual war raging all about us is real.  Satan and his imps oppose God and His salvation for humanity.  I doubt that the devil is really very interested in us, but he is keen on trying to defeat God in every way, and on every level possible.  So we humans often get caught up in the bloodshed.

After a time of my wandering in the dark, the Lord Jesus restored me to Himself.  He washed me off (again) and set my feet on the Rock of His own perfect salvation.  And there I remain to this day.

A great number of other Christians are also at various stages of faith in their lives.  Some are slipping fast into the old patterns of thinking and acting.  Some are holding firm.  Some are being restored to faith and vitality by Christ.  All who truly belong to the Lord Jesus will be just fine, in the long run.  He will lose nothing of all that the Father has given into His hand.

I have been in many circumstances where I had no hope but God.  I continue to go through difficult times.  My faith is tested time and again.  I do not live a life of ease or a life of perfect peace on this world.  I live only by the faith of the Son of God who gave Himself for me.  Even when my own confidence is shaken to the core, the Lord Jesus holds me secure in His own good hand, and by His own faith and faithfulness to God the Father.

I am no longer a young man.  I have lived a long time.  I have seen my own failings many times.  I have never once seen God fail.  I have never once witnessed or experienced the failure of God to provide or protect His own.

If anything, I have been often amazed to see God’s love and compassion expressed to a far greater extent than anything I ever understood in Scripture.  And that’s saying a lot, since the Scriptures tell us about God’s love in the sending and offering of His own Son for us.  I see God’s kindness and love for human beings (for Christians and non-Christians alike) every day of my life.  God cares about people.  God loves people.  God delights to do good things for all people.  He is a God of love and not merely a God of fair and right judgment.

The Lord does things — and will do things — for people that we seldom if ever even begin to imagine.  The Lord has great things in store for us all.  How unfortunate, then, that we so seldom trust Him with everything.  We try so hard to control thing on our own, as though we could control circumstances and events that are far beyond our imaginations, much less our realm of influence or control.  Yet God, in His kindness, allows us to live and to learn as much as we are willing to learn.

As is often the case, I face many challenges  in 2008.  I face changes in business, changes in daily patterns, changes in every area of my life.  Yet I do not go forward in fear or dread.  I know that the Lord who has helped me each day and each year of my life so far will also see me through the challenges and opportunities of 2008.  God is God and He has not changed.  Therefore, I will go ahead with confidence and joy.

May the Lord help us all to see more clearly His great hand at work in our loves.  may we each see the goodness and the kindness of God in all things.  And may we all (Christian or not) learn to trust in the Lord with our whole hearts during this next year.  With men, of course, all such things are not likely, if not impossible, but with God all good things are possible.  Amen and amen.

Jim