Dare to Trust

Life is tough. Often times difficult situations will face us and cause us to panic because it seems like we’re going to die a hundred different ways with no way to escape. Instead of giving in to our fears amid difficult situations, we can trust God in all of them.

Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.”

Acts 27:33-34

The Apostle Paul was on his way to Rome on a prison ship. He was being transported as a falsely accused prisoner. His plan was to appeal to the Caesar and show that he was not an insurrectionist and that he was speaking out of love in the hope of the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s a great goal: to clear his name before the king and also have a chance to testify about who Jesus is.

The problem was that he and everybody he was travelling with was expecting to be shipwrecked, or worse, to die in the fury of the winter sea. This is the classic Murphy’s Law predicament, isn’t it? You just found yourself going in the right direction and things were starting to go your way, but then all of a sudden, everything goes wrong. It’s the type of situation that causes us to think that we need to always be prepared for the worst because sooner or later it will happen.

For the Apostle Paul, facing a certain death at sea would be a double downer. He was already falsely accused and imprisoned, now he has to look at the fact that he may not even get to clear his name or accomplish his goal of sharing Jesus Christ with the Caesar of Rome. That caused him to pray. We don’t know how long he prayed before he received some revelation from God, but the fact is that he not only received some revelation, but he had the boldness to share that good news.

Our lives always seems to be falling apart when we most need it to stay together. I can’t speak about why that happens, but I can tell you that when we dare to trust in God when everything is falling apart, God shows up. So, dare to trust God and share with those people who you are travelling with in life about the confirmation God is giving you. If he hasn’t given you any confirmation or spoken to you, then keep praying, keep insisting that you will trust in God.

If you feel like you’re life is about to be shipwrecked, and everything will be lost, don’t worry by giving into your fears. Take heart. You will survive. Believe it. Speak it. Live it.