Two Wheeled Reflections

Two Wheeled Reflections

Psalm 20:7 ESV

Some trust in chariots some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

I rode my motorcycle to visit a friend two hours away. I dutifully checked weather the night before. I also checked it the morning of, yet when I saw the clear signs of rain on the horizon, I had to decide which I trusted more. The same experience on the way back. I elected to trust my eyes and get gas in the next town, trying to beat the rain. Now that I had elected to trust my eyes and was well on the road, I checked the mirror and read “objects in mirror are closer than they appear”. This provided a great amount of thought for my ride home. I had just placed my trust in my eyes and yet I clearly couldn’t trust them either!

The Psalmist tells us were we are to place our trust. He rightly attributes the only thing firm to the Lord. He points to his name, the marker of all his attributes, as that in which we can trust. Not in any technological innovation or time-honored tradition. Only in him who is faithful to all he has promised can we trust. Yet, is not this the same God that gave Satan sanction to take everything but life from Job? Is not this the same God who provided a Satanic Messenger to afflict Paul? Is not this the same God who told Hosea to marry a woman that would leave him? The same God that took Ezra’s wife, the delight of his eyes, away from him and told him not to mourn the loss?!

How do we trust such a God above all the things close at hand to trust? We see what he does to some of his most faithful servants and know that we are a far cry from them, how do we trust him? Jesus even tells us that if we do not hate our father, mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, we cannot be his disciple. (Luke 14:26)

How do we trust this God? We trust him with our lives and our eternity. We “count it all joy” when he elects to let us suffer that we might be corrected or that we might glorify him in our suffering. We trust his goodness and justice, recognizing that we are not his judge he is ours. Knowing that the best that my actions afford is hell and are to be regarded as filthy rags. In Christ God took all my filthy rags (good works) to himself and nailed them to a tree that I might be clothed in the white raiment of his son on the last day (Rev 7:9).

How do we love him? We remember that “God so loved…” I can imagine and am prepared to give my life for my family and my friends if need be, but to send any of my Son’s to do so knowing their life would be forfeit is a love that is frankly beyond me. That is probably why Jesus tells us that “greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend”, you see that is the greatest I could do, I could not send any of my sons to die for you, but God did! His love is greater than ours and as such we respond loving every action he takes for our good and his glory. Even when those actions don’t feel good.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO