Your Sovereign Hand Will Be My Guide

“The splendor of a human heart that trusts it is loved unconditionally gives God more pleasure than Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony”, Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”, the sight of 10,000 butterflies in flight, or the scent of a million orchids in bloom. Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for love of it.”
― Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin’s Path to God”

I’ve written a lot up to this point on why God is trustworthy and how it helps us live a life of joy and peace when we put our trust in him, but today, I want to write about how trusting God is an act of worship that we can give to him.  It’s hard to understand how much it means to God, for us to say, your sovereign hand will be my guide, until we understand how much he really loves us.  Pause for a moment and think about this…. God loves you so much, that even if you were the only one on earth who needed saving, who needed his Son to die for your sin; he still would have made that sacrifice for you alone. 

The love of God is personal.  It’s for you.  His interest in your everyday life is personal.  He wants you to trust him because he loves you.  He wants you to trust him because he knows that there is no safer place than him to place your trust.

The word, sovereign, connotes something like awe to me.  God is certainly awe inspiring, but he’s also gentle.  Jesus calls himself a good shepherd in the first part of John chapter 10, when he says,

“But the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and he goes in through it. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice. He calls each of them by name and leads them out.

When he has led out all of his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice.”

Jesus goes on to say, a few verses later, that he is the gate, meaning those who come to his Father, God, through him, will be saved.  When we allow the Good Shepherd to guide us, we are safe.  He leads us to his Father.  That means enough to him that he was willing to lay down his life for us, his sheep. 

There’s another story that Jesus tells in Luke 15, once again comparing us to sheep, and himself to a shepherd.  This is the story where he leaves the ninety-nine sheep to go after the one who is lost, and when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and brings it home, rejoicing.  The point here is that God’s love isn’t just something general, for humanity, it’s personal. 

Your love for God, as shown through trusting him, isn’t a small thing.  It’s an act of worship that he desires.  When we worry and try to take control ourselves, instead of trusting that God is in control we are not doing it with a heart of love towards God.  We are placing ourselves in front of the shepherd rather than following him.   Listen for his voice. You will hear it when you spend time in prayer and in the bible.  Quiet your worried mind and trust in him.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2

I'll leave you today with a song.  A couple of weeks ago, I shared a song by Lauren Daigle, and you guys loved it!  Here's another one, that wraps up beautifully what I'm trying to say.  In Christ Alone...