A few days ago my friend and colleague John Pearson, gave me a transcript of a speech that had been given by a Christian lawyer about a trip he had taken to China. John thought I would be interested in the section of the transcript about his visit to China. While I found that fascinating, what really got my attention was a section of the speech that included a quote from the author Brennan Manning’s book Ruthless Trust.
Over the last several weeks Jewel and I have been thinking much about the questions of faith and trust in times of personal crisis. Manning seems to articulate so well what we are feeling.
He writes,
…"In order to grow in trust, we must release the demand for clarity and understanding."
Manning tells the story of a man who travelled to Calcutta to work with Mother Teresa in search of answers. She asked him what she could for him. And he replied that he would like her to pray for him.
“For what?” she asked.
“For clarity.”
She refused. “No, I will not do that.”
Undoubtedly surprised by her response, he asked her why.
She answered, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of… I will pray that you trust God.”
Manning says:
“The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity…[It is] the life of the pilgrim who leave what is nailed down, obvious and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee the future.”
In the face of our obsession for answers, for some explanation of why we’re going through this, Solomon counsels us, “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.” Proverbs 3:5 (The Message)
While we don’t have all the answers, we are learning to trust.
Yours on the Journey,
Geoff
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