Do you trust in the promises of God?
In the Book of Wisdom, we are given several examples of the
special providence of God during the exodus of the people of Israel in the
desert after their departure from Egypt.
In each case, God promises salvation and the people trust that God will
fulfill those promises: Your people awaited the salvation of the
just, and that salvation is theirs in the end. They are, after all, the people the Lord has chosen to be his own, as Psalm 33 states,
and so long as they remain upright,
in right relationship with God, they can bear God’s glance with awe and
continue to hope in God’s providence: See, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who
fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, to deliver them from death and
preserve them in spite of famine. The people trust in the Lord, who is their help and their shield.
The Letter to the Hebrews builds on this history, reminding
Jesus’ followers of Abraham’s trust in God and exhorting them to believe in the
promise of Christ, to have faith in the city
– the heavenly homeland – God has prepared for them through the offer of his only son. Indeed, faith
is crucial: we have not yet died and
risen, but we continue to have faith in the promise, and to obey by faith as Abraham did. Jesus shares the promise of God’s providence
with his disciples in Luke’s Gospel as well, reminding them that material goods
are as nothing compared to the inexhaustible
treasure God has prepared for them in heaven – so long as they continue to
discern God’s plan, remaining faithful
and prudent stewards of that plan, constantly nurturing their relationship
with the Lord.
Do we trust in the promises of God? If we do, if we trust, if we really trust, we must learn to live from
that trust, from a place of confidence and faith, dedicated to Christ as
servants ready to do God’s will,
transformed daily by our faith in all that God has in store.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
No comments:
Post a Comment