2/19/2020 – Pastor Brian’s Blog –
Many of you that will read my blog today may not know them, but Ernie and Kristan have experienced the trustworthiness of God. A number of months ago Ernie was diagnosed with oral cancer. The treatment was horrendous. In order to make sure that all the cancer was gone, Ernie had to have three quarters of his tongue removed. The doctors then removed all the flesh under his tongue right down to the bone. Then months of doctor appointments, hospital treatments, speech therapy, relearning how to eat, and not to mention the chemicals and medicines that were put into his body. These are all things that a body was never intended to endure. And even after all this, there were no guarantees that Ernie would be cured or even survive for that matter.
Last Friday was the day Ernie & Kristan were to find out if, in fact, these months of treatments, the excruciating pain, as well as the struggling with the unknown, were over. Ernie and Kristian arrived at the doctor’s office to find out if the cancer was gone.
Is God’s trustworthiness important? It is when you have mouth cancer and you wonder if you are going to live. It is when you walk into that hospital room and see your daughter on life support. It is when you have no job and another one is nowhere in sight. It is when people want to do you harm. It is when your spouse proves to be unfaithful. God’s trustworthiness is also important when your candidate for President does not win and now you think all hope is gone.
When that thing you have dreaded for so long is now in your life, you have to choose whether you are going to trust or fear. Trust a God who has been faithful over and over again, or follow fear down that path that offers no hope. We all must choose.
Before you make that choice, consider God’s faithfulness from the past. God is trustworthy even when you are about to enter a fiery furnace… Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.” Daniel 3:16-18
God is trustworthy even when you lose everything… “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Job 1:21-22
Does having a God that is trustworthy make a difference? Well, it gives you the ability to run at the giants in your life… As the Philistine (Goliath) moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 1 Samuel 17:48
Can you trust God when He asks you to do something that everything within you tells you can’t? Jesus did… “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39
Ernie & Kristian were not at church last Sunday. They were not at church because they were in Boston… celebrating that Ernie is cancer free. Be sure to add Ernie & Kristan to that long list of people that have experienced the faithfulness of God!
Someone responded by saying “This is the greatest news ever.” Although I do understand their sentiment, as wonderful as it is, Ernie’s healing is not the “greatest news ever.” The greatest news ever is that God is God and because God is God, you can trust Him with every situation in your life!
You can trust God because God is everything He says He is, because God cannot lie… So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. Hebrews 6:18-19 NLT
You can trust God because He is a promise-keeping God. You may have been disappointed by others; others may have broken their promises to you, but not God… Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23
Choose to trust God’s faithfulness. Choose to trust a God who is always up to something good, even though everything within you sees it as bad. Choose to trust the God that loved you enough to die for you. God is trustworthy all the time! All the time, God is trustworthy!
