Trust opens unimagined possibilities

“Who can cheer the heart like Jesus, By His presence all divine?,” asks Thoro Harris (regarded as one of the most prolific African-American hymn writers of the early 20th century) in his classic from 1931, All That Thrills my Soul. Harris proclaims, “He is more than life to me. And the fairest of ten thousand, In my blessed Lord I see . . .  On His strength divine relying, He is all in all to me.”  

Making Jesus everything, trusting in Him for our all, was a constant theme in Harris’ hundreds of Christian songs. In Hide Thou Me, He writes, “O what a Friend is Jesus sure anchor for my soul, So tender, true and gracious, I'm safe in His control.”

In another classic from 1914, More Abundantly, the refrain goes, “All from Him receiving,
Yield to Him your all; Jesus will accept you When to Him you flee; He will grant His blessing more abundantly.”

*****

The word “trust,” and variations of it, appears in the King James Bible 191 times. A favorite famous quote of mine that I used to keep framed atop my office desk at work read, “Love can be understood only ‘from the inside,’ as a language can be understood only by someone who speaks it, as a world can be understood only by someone who lives in it.”

The author of the quote, renowned American educator and philosopher and author of 40-plus books, Robert C. Solomon, had many thoughts about the nature of trust and how he believed “many people are blind to it.”

Solomon observes, in a quick compilation of quotes from him, “Trust is not bound up with knowledge so much as it is with freedom, the openness to the unknown . . . Trust opens up new and unimagined possibilities . . . True, trust necessarily carries with it uncertainties, but we must force ourselves to think about these uncertainties as possibilities and opportunities, not as liabilities. . . Trust is a skill learned over time so that, like a well-trained athlete, one makes the right moves, usually without much reflection.”

Regarding the trust one can place in God’s Word, Jordan emphasizes, “When you come to a book that you can trust, instead of it disappointing you when you doubt it, you realize the problem was you, not it. You discover that as you keep studying it, you begin to trust it more and more. When you hear me talk about trusting the King James Bible, that’s not because I had some tradition to do that. That comes from almost 50 years of just reading it every day, studying it for what it is and letting it commend itself to me. I tell people all the time, ‘You should believe the bible you’re reading. You should let it tell you about itself.’ ”

II Samuel 22 says, [29] For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.
[30] For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.
[31] As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.[32] For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?
[33] God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.
[34] He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places.
[35] He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
[36] Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.
[37] Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.”

(new article tomorrow)