An Exhortation: Trust God, and His Signs Will Delight You

WHEN IN DELIGHT I ask for a sign by which to remember some sweet promise, the sign itself becomes a keepsake, a treasure among my possessions. It reflects both the trust of the promise and the trustworthiness of the promisor.

When in doubt I demand a sign as proof that a certain promise can and will be kept, that sign becomes a cold legality, a contract, a bond that binds the promisor. It reflects the mistrust of the promise, the presumption of fault in the promisor.

Thirty years ago my wife and I made foundational promises each to the other: to be faithful unto death. This is not a merely sentimental thing. It is absolutely the ground upon which we build stability in an unstable world, something as solemn as a rock. But it is also a dear thing—and the promise itself binds us together. Therefore, the signs of it are unnecessary but are treasures nevertheless; our golden rings; letters written in absence; certain anniversary traditions.

But there are husbands and wives from whom the promise itself is not enough. Their uncertainty, their personal stability in an unstable world, cannot be built on mere promises, since each sees the other as potentially a part of that unstable world! Therefore, they create legal signs to establish the promise. They bind one another to contracts constructed to outlast any promise of faithfulness: prenuptial agreements. These signs are not treasures. They are grim necessities made powerful by a codified judiciary.

Now, then apply the same alternatives to our relationship with God. How do we react to the promises God makes unto us? In delight do we seek a keepsake?—or in doubt do we demand proofs?

Be wary, my friend: when God is the promisor, delight and doubt reveal no one but ourselves. For God is faithful. God is trustworthy (read Isa. 44:6-8). God is unlike the world altogether. He gives keepsakes of his promises, surely. Unto faith, God grants signs in abundance: rainbows, pillars of fire and cloud, water in the wilderness, lightning to consume Elijah’s wet sacrifice, and this sign: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Again, God is faithful. He does not change. Therefore, if we feel that we must bind him to his promises by some sign, some extra proof (which for God is precisely as insulting as it is unnecessary), we will only bind ourselves. That sign will burden us like a punishment. And more than we ourselves shall suffer for this, our faithlessness.

Jesus says, “I am coming soon.” And how do you respond? Oh, let it be as a bride responds to the promise of the bridegroom, adorning yourself for his return, joyfully shouting with the Spirit, “Come!” (Rev. 21:2, 9; 22:17). Then your joy, your present beauty, your complete sense of assurance and belonging—these shall be signs of the Lord’s trustworthiness and of our trust, signs of his love until he comes in glory.

“Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”

Excerpt from Preparing for Jesus by Walter Wangerin, Jr.

 

 

 

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