Whom do you trust?: Spend 5 with Jesus: March 9, 2023

I have a hard time trusting others. Even though things do not always go as well when I do things myself, I find it so much easier to only have to count on myself. This is not at all the best, especially in the spiritual life. Whom do you trust?

Readings for Today

Whom do you trust?

Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.

The first reading puts before us a very clear choice. Do we trust in human beings or do we trust in God? It can be easy to trust in human beings, because we can see them, hear them, interact with them. As for God? Do we trust in God? Do we allow God the pride of place in our lives?

Are we really able to place our whole heart and soul, mind and intellect into the hands of God and to do his will? Will we go wherever it is that God wishes us to go? Does our trust in God become so deep that the life of the gospel bubbles up from inside of us so that we witness to all that Jesus can do in the lives of his people?

Jeremiah, the prophet in today’s first reading, hears the word of God, trusts in him, and tries to rally the people into the same trust. It does not go so well. People simply do not listen to Jeremiah, they do not heed his words. He has heard clearly what it is that God wants him to say to the people, but the people to whom he speaks do not wish to listen.

Even Jeremiah struggles in his circumstance in life, sometimes wishing he could stop preaching the word, as it has brought him trouble. But, the love of God is so powerful and the ways in which God stirs up the heart of Jeremiah there is no other choice for Jeremiah other than to proclaim his word.

The season of Lent provides that perfect opportunity to ask God to help us to have more faith in Him. Sometimes the way is not clear, the road is tough, and it is difficult for us to know what God wants. But if we find ourselves unwilling to trust in God, it is even harder.

But when it is the case that we can look back over our lives, and in doing so finding every reason to believe God and to rely on Him, then we too become like Jeremiah and find ourselves welling up with love of God and his grace to do the very things that deepen our relationship with God.

All of this comes down to seeing the purpose of Lent. When we can believe that Jesus is the way, then at that time the choice is really no choice at all.

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