is one of those precious qualities that make life so worthwhile. And yet . . . we have to admit, sorrowfully, that the mark of trust is becoming less obvious in our day. We have to trust, and yet we must be careful as to whom we trust.
God’s Word has a good deal to say about trust. For example, of Daniel, who was an administrator in the king’s service, the Bible says that his enemies tried to find something in his life for which they could criticize and destroy him. In Daniel 6:4b, these words are found: “They could find no corruption in him [Daniel] because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt, nor negligent.” We wish often that we could have that kind of trust in those who govern us these many centuries later. Some are most trustworthy; others, sadly, are not. We do get an opportunity to choose—at the ballot box.
“Do not trust in deceptive words,” writes the prophet Jeremiah. God’s people of ancient times were warned not to trust in the pagan power of the pharaoh of Egypt. As the book of 2 Kings 18:21 states: “Look now, you are depending on Egypt that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man’s hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.” God’s people trusted Pharaoh against God’s expressed order . . . and Pharaoh let them down.
Some do let us down from time to time, but there is always One in whom we can place complete trust. Over twenty times in the Psalms, the Psalmist calls on us to put our trust in the Lord, who is fully trustworthy. He writes: “In God I trust; I will not be afraid” (Psalm 56:11a). And from Psalm 62, verse 8: “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
It is marvelous to enjoy trust in one another, but surer still is the trust in our God who will never, never let us down . . . in time or eternity.
Immortality
January 10
Napoleon was visiting the Louvre gallery when a painting caught his eye. He said to the director of the Louvre, Baron Denon, who was accompanying him, “That is a noble picture, Denon.”
“Immortal,” was the reply.
“How long,” asked Napoleon, “will this picture last?”
Denon replied that with care, it might last five hundred years.
“And how long,” said Napoleon, “will a statue last?
“Perhaps,” replied Denon, “five thousand years.”
“And this,” replied Napoleon, sharply, “—this you call immortality!”4
Five thousand years is a long time for something crafted by man, but hardly a long time by God’s standards and certainly not immortal.
In 2 Peter 3:8, we read: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” Time and space merge with God, and the immortality of the human soul is also timeless.
Peter in his first epistle amplifies this thought as he ponders the love of God to you and me.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials (1 Peter 1:3–6).
Living for immortality.
Walking With God
January 11
One weekend as I was walking through the parking lot of a university campus, I came upon something that immediately caught my attention. The parking lot was only partially occupied, but in that lot was a husky young man having the time of his life by manipulating a tiny radio–controlled car. With his handheld control, he sent the car back and forth, weaving, turning, speeding, and slowing—all over the lot. He was obviously enjoying the fun and the sense of power for when I came back twenty minutes later, he was still there.
It seems to me that one might see such a scene as a parallel of life. We, like the little model car, are spinning all over the world, sometimes with purpose, sometimes without—going, coming, eating, sleeping, working, and enjoying recreation. All the while, up there is a power that watches over us so that we won’t smash up.
There’s a difference of course. We would not like it if God controlled us like the young man handled his model. We feel much better when God lets us run our own show. But most of us, in the back of our minds, want to believe that in the last analysis, God will step in if there’s a crisis.
This attitude could, I think, be described as “taking God for granted.” But I seem to hear the crashing interjection of the prophet Micah: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
God does not want to manipulate us or to be ignored by us. He wants to walk with us. The choice is ours.
A Glorious Vista
January 12
Joseph Mallord Turner, one of the finest and most famous of British artists, lived from 1775 to 1851. Turner was something of a prodigy as a painter, and his father, a barber, is said to have sold some of the lad’s sketches when he was twelve. Turner is best known for the brilliant and lavish colors of his landscapes and seascapes.
One day, so the story goes, a lady approached Turner, objecting that she did not see such brilliant colors occurring in nature. The artist’s simple but perceptive reply was, “Don’t you wish you did, Madam?”
The Apostle Paul expresses similar sentiments in a brief prayer recorded in Ephesians 1:18: “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he [i.e. Jesus] has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” Paul later adds this similar prayer: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power . . . to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3: 17b–18). Paul is painting the spiritual landscape for his fellow Christians, and it contains all the colors of the rainbow.
God loves His children with an abundant, abounding love that truly passes understanding.
Simply put, God loves you and God loves me.
Have Patience
January 13
Sometimes having patience is one of the most difficult things in life. That’s why it’s called a virtue. As we age, patience becomes even more of a virtue, it seems, as there are issues we have to deal with unique to the aging process.
In the twelfth chapter of Romans, verse 12, the Apostle Paul calls for a type of patience many aging Christians that I know have shown in their daily living. He writes: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
In Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, the apostle adds this: “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing
