Simply Trust

This should have been up this morning, but Blogger froze, the storms came through, the computer froze...you get the idea. Anyway....


Ephesians 1:7-14
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
New King James Version (www.biblegateway.com)

As a high school English teacher (on semi-sabbatical), this passage is a killer. Verses 7-10 are one long sentence, and not easy to configure at that. The way that this translated from the original Greek is one for the textbooks! I don't know about you, but essentially what I come away with is God's ultimate wisdom and provision for those He's chosen and loves. If you come at this from a grammar standpoint (sorry, it comes naturally to me), it's easy to just look at the action in this passage...

He made to abound
He made known to us the mystery
He purposed in Himself
He might gather together
Him who works all things

Notice all the things God has done that we don't even have the ability to do! We get the same result when we look at our "action"...the passive verbs...

we have redemption through His blood
(we have) forgiveness of sins (which are according to His riches anyway)
we have obtained an inheritance
(we) being predestined (according to His purpose, mind you)
we who first trusted in Christ
you also trusted (after hearing the word of truth)
we were sealed with the Holy Spirit

There is only one thing in this list that we actually have "control" over. We cannot redeem ourselves, forgive ourselves, give ourselves an inheritance, predestine ourselves, or seal ourselves. The ony thing we have to do is trust. God gives us free will and it is not mandatory that we do so. But when I look at all God has done and all He freely gives, it makes me wonder why anyone would ever turn away from His gifts! How can someone look at this and reject salvation?

Last night was a rough one with the storm and this morning was a rushed one. But I'm thankful to God for these times and I'm going to take the word "trust" with me throughout the day. When my kids start slamming doors on each other, I'm going to trust that God will keep me from losing my temper. When my body starts to fall apart on me again, I'm going to trust that God will give the doctors wisdom to diagnose and solve the problems. When frustration sets in because I run out of time for my own desires, I'm going to trust that God will make my 10 free minutes very productive. I have to choose to trust...(in this passage anyway) I'm not called to do anything else.