SUNDAY, AUGUST 25 2024 - TRUSTING IN GOD

Recorded Worship on Youtube

Sunday, August 25 2024

Deborah Laforet

Trusting in God

Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by

your Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.

What does it mean to trust in God? In our scientific and rational based world, many

might find you very naive if they know you put your trust in a higher power, in an entity that

can’t be seen and can’t be proven to exist. Others might call this faith, an act that takes courage,

risk, and determination. My question today though is not about whether or not we should put our

trust in God. As a people of faith, I wonder what it looks like when we put our trust in God.

In two of our stories this week, the children learned about characters that were going

through difficult times. Jacob, through his own actions, had to run away from home. He had

tricked his brother and his brother had threatened to kill him. As a result, he was on the run, far

away from family and home, not sure of where he was going and what he would do to survive.

The second story we learned was about Naomi. Naomi had a husband and two sons and

lived in Bethlehem. Unfortunately, there was famine in Bethlehem, and she, like Jacob, had to

leave her home. They moved to Moab where there was food aplenty and where her sons

eventually married. Unfortunately, her husband died and then her two sons and he was left with

her two daughters-in-law.

In our Jacob story, he has a dream one night of a ladder, from the earth to the heavens,

and angels ascending and descending those stairs. And from the top of the ladder, Jacob heard a

God’s voice. That voice told Jacob that God would go with him.

In the story of Naomi, she decided she would move back to her homeland of Bethlehem.

She told her daughters-in-law to stay behind, to stay in their own homes and remarry. One of

them did, but the other, Ruth, decided to stick with her mother-in-law, no matter what. “Where

you go, I will go. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God.”

In both instances, we learn lessons about God. For Jacob, we learn that God does not

leave or abandon us when we make mistakes or when you have hurt others. We learn that God

goes with us always. In the story of Naomi, we learn that sometimes we can experience God’s

love through other people. Naomi was not alone because she had Ruth, who had devoted herself

to Naomi.

Jacob and Naomi were both people of God, but they had struggles, they made mistakes,

and they experienced loss. This is all part of being human. Trusting in God does not mean that

we will lead a trouble free life. Trusting in God is more about what we do when we experience

these troubles.

As a people of faith, I will turn to you and ask, what does it look like to trust God when

we experience trouble or struggle? What do you do?

Ask congregation.

In the story that was acted out this morning, Jesus was fast asleep while his disciples

struggled through a storm. The disciples were fortunate that when they woke up Jesus and asked

for his help, Jesus stilled the storm and the waters with just one word. “Peace.” And then he

asked them where was their faith? He was right there with them and yet they had been terrified.

Did they not trust in him?

Now, I find this to be a bit of a stretch as I think most of us would be terrified if a storm

threatened to sink our boat, but I think this story is using exaggeration to make a point. As a

people of faith, as followers of Jesus, as people who profess to believe that Christ is risen and is

always with us, why are we so afraid of the hardships that life brings our way. Why are we

afraid to take risks when we know the Spirit is guiding us?

Sometimes, us church-goers have the most difficulty putting our trust in God. We are

drawn to church because it is comforting to know God is with us. We are drawn to the parts of

our faith that offer unconditional love, forgiveness, and assurance, but struggle with the parts that

challenge us - feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, freeing the imprisoned, lifting up the

lowly, finding justice for the oppressed. The parts of the bible and of our faith that demand we

take risks, that demand we leave our riches behind, that invite us to surrender to the will of the

Spirit - those parts are hard. It is easier for us to turn away, to close our eyes, plug our ears, to

only trust in ourselves and what we can control. But this is not what trusting in God looks like.

What might our lives look like if we had more trust in God? Jesus encourages us to be

like a child, open and trusting. What might our church communities look like if we could let go

and trust in God? As our campers learned this week, trusting in God is knowing that God goes

with us, that God will lead the way, that God will share wisdom, that God will give peace, and

that, at every moment, God will spark joy, and that ultimately, whenever we’re afraid, we can put

our trust in God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

tracy chippendale