My 1,500 reasons to trust God

I was surprised to learn from my editor that I have been writing these little columns posted in the clouds since November 2007—that’s more than 1,500 columns! If you had asked me in October 2007 if I would have something to say for 1,500 days, I would have laughed.

I am not the foreign correspondent; I am not the national reporter; I do not cover sports; I am not the house news pundit; I am not the house theologian. My assigned slot is “slice of life.” The problem with that is that my “life” is fairly uneventful.

Throw into the mix the fact that I am not at all a talkative person (I am endlessly in awe of talk show hosts who can go on and on and never fear they will run out of things to say) and the fact that my natural comfort zone is stockpiles of reserves.

So God has given me this niche at WORLD that is narrowly circumscribed and puts me entirely at the mercy of His daily supply of “material.” It is not my preferred way of living, but it is evidently God’s preferred way of making me trust Him.

There was a widow in ancient Israel (1 Kings 17) who was rescued from starvation by God. But God didn’t stock her pantry with a two years’ supply of food. Not even a six months’ supply. Not even a one weeks’ supply. Every day she would use up all she had from her two jars, one of oil and one of flour. She would go to bed with empty jars sitting in the kitchen. I believe that as she laid her head on the pillow, she thought about those empty jars. And that made her think of God, and perhaps pray and thank Him. If she had retired every evening with full or even half-full containers, she might not have thought of God every day, just every week.

This is how God is with me, too. I want a months’ worth of columns this minute, but it doesn’t work that way. I cannot live the God-independent life my flesh wants. On the other hand, the good news is that the situation is starting to create confidence in me that if God has been faithful 1,500 times, he will be faithful 1,500 more.

Andrée Seu Peterson’s Won’t Let You Go Unless You Bless Me, regularly $12.95, is now available from WORLD for only $5.95.