Like Babes

Like Babes If a person puts his trust in the Lord and follows obediently, he will experience the shepherding love of God. Psalm 23 paraphrase I remember seeing the first steps of my younger sister and many nieces and nephews. In each instance they shared the same procedure. Each one pulled themselves up on any nearby piece of furniture. They lifted their arms high as if being robbed at gun point, laughed and then wobbled towards their moms and dads. In that experience, I see that all children seem to be born with built-in trust. Without complex legal contracts or previous experience to teach them, they knew they could trust. They knew that the beckoning hands of parents and loved ones were going to catch them before they fell. But as we get older, trust takes on a new sense of being. We live in hard times... And life teaches us that trust is for the foolish and weak. Trust can make you a target for the unscrupulous. And it seems as if each downfall of human trust can cause us to question if God is any different. We start to wonder if God has any integrity (as if God should be judged by the behavior of people). Life's bumps and bruises teach us that trust is sort of unnatural, a luxury reserved for children. But Jesus says that the only way to enter the Kingdom is to be like one of these trusting little ones (Matthew 19:14). I think we are designed to trust. We are built to have confidence in God our Father. I am convinced that trust is normal, as long as it has been deposited in the right place. So, raise your arms high, laugh and stumble your way into the strong arms of God your Father. It is safe to trust the Lord.