Yet I will trust in You

I spoke to an inmate friend of mine recently and asked him if he got anything good for dinner that day. I knew how much he loves cranberry sauce, and was hoping. He told me that he sat down to pray before the meal, as always, and that this time he tacked on to the end of his prayer: "And if you want to, Lord, you can give me extra cranberry sauce." (The amount on his plate was a mere spoonful.)

No sooner had he prayed than another inmate took a seat across the table from him and commenced to cough. The man finally left the table, his food untouched, and walked back to his unit, my friend inheriting the spoils.

Some prayers are answered immediately, and when that happens the appropriate response it to say thank you. What about prayers that are not, and that leave you baffled? What is the proper response then?

My friend Linda thought she had sensed the leading of the Lord in taking on a therapy she called "traction" for her bad back. She had brought the idea to a prayer group and believed afterward that it was the Lord's will that she go ahead with the procedure. The outcome is that her back feels worse than ever.

These are the cases that shake one's soul. What do you say now: "Yet I will trust in You"? Yes, that's right. Is there a more beautiful thing in God's eyes than a person who, when every trace of Him is gone, continues to say with gusto, "Yet I will trust in You"? Is there a greater workout of faith? Is there a greater imitation of father Abraham? Is there any more valuable a thing to credit to your account (Philippians 4:17)?

I think not. You have staked your life on every Word of God and not the word of man. You have taken a high view of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in you, when many others do not. You have had great expectations of His power, when many have given up. You have listened intently for His voice, when many live as functional unbelievers. And now that your prayer seems unanswered, the world will chime in with Trumpkin that "your eggs are addled, your fish uncaught, your promises broken" (C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian). They will say with Job's wife, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die" (Job 2:9).

Linda's story is not over. She will stand. For her God is able to make her stand. And none who over-trust in God will be ashamed on the last day.

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