Trust His Plan
I started the “Saturday Stories” as something extra for paid subscribers to First Light, but since changing the way I was dealing with the paid and free subscriptions, they go our to everyone. I continued writing them instead of a typical devotional because of the positive feedback I have received from readers. I hope you enjoy them.
I will be heading out to India soon where I will be leading a conference on biblical interpretation. A good deal of the cost for this conference is being taken care of by those paid subscriptions. So, thank you to all who have contributed in this way. If you would like to support this ministry, you can do so by making a gift through Equipping Pastors International (just click on the link) or you can become a paid subscriber to First Light.
Now, on to today’s “Saturday Story…”
I had an “I’m in over my head” vibe on a construction job. The building owner wanted me to restructure the building trusses to allow the height to build a conference room. About two feet of the bottom structure of the trusses were going to need to go away. The trusses are the primary support of the building. They keep the roof overhead and the walls standing up. Restructuring them is a dicey proposition.
A structural engineer was hired. He came up with a plan. I made some suggestions. He came up with a second plan. We met, measured, and talked over worst-case scenarios, and appropriate countermeasures if things fell apart – literally fell apart. We agreed on a third plan.
After working on creating temporary support and preparing for the main task, the big day arrived. Six 28’ long beams lay on the concrete floor 16’ below where they needed to be installed. With the help of several strong young men, we set them in place, and I went about the process of bolting them up to the existing trusses.
After several hours of work, the moment of truth had come. The lower section of the existing trusses needed to be cut loose. This would be the critical moment when we would know if the plan was a success or failure.
I confess I was nervous. On the one hand, I had faith in the knowledge and expertise of the structural engineer. On the other hand, I was the guy with the saw who was about to severe what, up to that point in the history of that building’s existence, had been the glue that held it all together. My faith had been intellectual assent and confidence in mathematical theory. Now, with a saw in hand, I was going to demonstrate my faith by cutting away what had held things together to transfer all of the weight of the building onto a new source of strength and stability.
After that part of the job was complete, I breathed a sigh of relief. And I thought about faith. What I experienced on that job was a good metaphor for our faith in God. He has a plan. He has planned our personal redemption and the redemption and restoration of His good creation as well. He has revealed that plan to us in His word.
We can have a certain kind of faith in the word of God that is intellectual. We can give assent to it and confess to believing in it. But until we sever ourselves from all the other things we are trusting in, it isn’t saving faith, it isn’t biblical faith. Biblical faith is letting go of and cutting off what we have previously counted on for strength and stability and putting all of our weight on God and His purposes.
Be assured, my friend, God can carry the weight of it all.
