Trust Lead
Posted by: ba <ba@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Fidelity
Trust Lead
by Mike Benson
Confession time (James 5:16). There have been
periods during my forty-three-year sojourn that I
have experienced a certain apprehension about the
future (Mark 9:24). As much as I hate to admit it,
I've not always taken the "Christian perspective"
in regard to my days (Psalms 90:12). "Fearful" -
Yes; "faithful" - no.
I have occasionally fantasized about how much
easier and nicer life would be if...dare I say
it...if I wielded control over the future. If I,
in some God-like fashion, could keep tomorrow and
all its attendant circumstances under my tight
supervision. I would be master of my environment.
I would manage my surroundings - controlling where
I live, how I live (i.e., my standard of living),
what I buy, where I go, what happens to me, etc.
(Did you notice all of those personal pronouns)?
"And Mike said..." and it would be so (cf. Genesis
1). Life would be according to my script - with no
anxiety, no uncertainty, no trepidation.
Well, experience has been something of a "tutor".
Newspaper headlines and untimely events continue
to remind me that physical security is fleeting at
best and subject to fluctuation (Job 1:13-2:7; 2
Corinthians 11:23-27). I'm not in control of
tomorrow, nor will I ever be. Mike is Mike; God is
God - and each of us has different roles and
functions - mine is to learn faith and trust
(Matthew 14:31; Hebrews 11:6a); God's is to
oversee and determine my days (Daniel 4:35). I
like the way one author illustrates these truths:
"Imagine two fight-type aircraft three feet apart
in tight formation through a wide range of
maneuvers. Perhaps you have seen the Thunderbirds
do this at five hundred miles an hour.
Now picture the return to base for landing. These
aircraft can fly in tight formation all the way to
touchdown. When the weather is poor, landing
becomes a little 'hairy'. Let me explain.
These two aircraft in the clouds have about twenty
feet of visibility. They fly very close, and the
lead pilot just looks at his instruments. The
number two pilot just looks at lead. When they
approach the field, the two pilots will, on signal
from the lead, lower the landing gear, and
together the aircraft change pitch like a porpoise
in the water. Because the number two pilot is
looking out the side of the aircraft instead of
straight ahead, his sensory perception gives him
funny signals at he decelerates and the nose
pitches up and down. Sometimes he feels as if he
is in ninety degrees of bank when he is wings-
level with the horizon. Now if he shifts his focus
from lead to the cockpit, he could easily either
slide into lead or away from lead in the clouds
close to the ground. Either could be disastrous.
What we as instructors had to burn into the memory
of students learning to fly in bad weather is to
trust lead no matter how scary it feels. 'Your
job,' we would say, 'is to follow lead and stay in
position; his job is to make a safe approach.' But
this is tough when you feel as if the plane is in
a steep bank and about to crash. It involves focus
and trust." /1
1. Trusting God with my future is like formation
flying in a fighter jet. It involves following His
lead no matter how scary it feels at times.
"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be
on the vines; though the labor of the olive may
fail, and the fields yield no food; though the
flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no
herd in the stalls - Yet I will rejoice in the
Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The
Lord God is my strength..." (Habakkuk 3:17-19a).
2. My job is to focus on the here and now - today.
"See then that you walk circumspectly (carefully),
not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time,
because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15,16; cf.
Matthew 6:11).
3. God is responsible for my future. "Come now,
you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such
and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell,
and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what
will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is
even a vapor that appears for a little time and
then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If
the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or
that'" (James 4:13-15). He wants me to relax about
the days ahead and trust Him. "Therefore do not
worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall
we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'...For your
heavenly Father knows that you need all these
things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things shall be added
to you" (Matthew 6:31-32,11; cf. Psalms 31:1, 9;
Proverbs 3:5-6).
/1 Doug Sherman, "Holding Your Career with a Light
Touch," Keeping Your Head Up When Your Job's Got
You Down, p. 108).
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