Trust Beyond Today

I grew up when you kept a map or an atlas in the glove box to help you find your way. It’s such a different experience from using the interactive maps on our phones. We’ve grown accustomed to them finding the best route, telling us where traffic is, accidents are and rerouting us when we make a mistake. A few weeks ago it told me to exit. I looked ahead and didn’t see any traffic for the next mile or so. I had a decision to make. Do I trust it knows something I don’t or do I know more than it based on what I see? I decided to stay on the freeway. In the moment I didn’t understand what it was doing. Up the road, I found out there was a major accident blocking several lanes with no exit in sight. I sat there wishing I had listened and exited, even when I didn’t know what it was doing.

In John 13, Jesus had gathered the disciples for what we now call the Last Supper. Before they ate, Jesus put on a towel and began washing the dirty feet of the disciples. Peter protested when it was his turn. In verse 7, Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will” (NLT). Peter still protested what Jesus was trying to do in the moment. He didn’t understand the lesson he was being taught, couldn’t see why Jesus was doing a servants job and couldn’t see Jesus was coming to save him from his sins instead of from Rome. Because of his lack of understanding, he pushed back in the moment like many of us do when we don’t understand what God is doing. Peter ultimately surrendered his will and understood later the lesson Jesus was teaching him.

Isaiah 50:10 says, “If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God.” Much of walking by faith and not by sight is not understanding in the moment what God is doing or why He’s doing it. We don’t see what He’s accomplishing in us through hardship in the moment. In those moments we have a choice. We can protest like Peter or we can trust in the Lord and rely on His understanding in those moments knowing He sees what’s ahead better than we do. Time gives great perspective to the times we’ve had to walk in darkness, without a ray of light. When we look back, we can see God’s hand as we walked through the Valley of the Shadow. When we gain that kind of perspective, it helps us to trust what He’s doing now, even though we may not understand in the moment.

Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash