"Trust Me" --God

When asked by a renowned ethicist in search of direction that she ‘pray that [he would] have clarity,’ Mother Teresa told him, ‘No, I will not do that. Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.’ When the ethicist commented that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, she laughed said, ‘I never have had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.’*

“I HAVE NEVER HAD CLARITY; WHAT I HAVE ALWAYS HAD IS TRUST.”

Wow. I don’t know how many times I’ve asked God for clarity, but as many times he has not answered my prayer with clarity as requested. Instead, I can confidently say he has always asked me to simply trust him. There is an account of one of Jesus’ miracles in Matthew 9:27-33 where a blind man and a mute man ask Jesus to heal them. They want to be able to see and to hear…and Jesus’ first response to them is not immediate healing, but a question. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” He wants to know that they believe and trust in Him.

When we search for clarity, we want to see and hear whatever it is we feel like we are missing or just not "getting." We want to see the details of the road ahead and hear God’s turn-by-turn GPS-like directions. What we really need to see and hear is that HE. IS. ABLE. We need clarity only in this: God is worth trusting, so let go of the searching for anything other than Him (like clarity about _______). Let go of listening for something specific in His voice, and just listen. Let go of trying to see the writing on the wall or the course lain out for the next few years/months/weeks.

TRUST. “Trust me, Amber.”

What sweet words from the Author of all things beautiful, all things perfect, all things right and just and holy and worthy of our praise.

I hope that the impact of this quote stays with you as it will with me. God is so good and His timing is never short of perfect.



[Acts 8:25-28, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 9:10, John 14:1…and so many others on trust!]

*A more detailed account of this story can be found at Andrew Schoonmaker’s blog.