I had just gotten my driver's license, and my boss at work handed me the keys to the huge delivery truck. He said, "You are now in charge of delivering all the cabinets and furniture we build here in the shop." It was a 30-foot flatbed truck with a 20-foot trailer, and I have to admit, I felt excited. "Wow, he must trust me to put all this responsibility in my hands." As the head delivery guy, I was the face of the company. As the head delivery guy, I was trusted with about $75,000 in equipment every day. As the head delivery guy, I was trusted with custom furniture and cabinetry. Wow!
With this perspective, I rose to the occasion. I got deliveries delivered on time safely. I made customers feel very well cared for. For the first time since his business started, my boss got calls thanking him for the service instead of complaining. Why? When I recognized how trusted I was, I rose to the occasion.
In the middle of a rapidly changing culture, God has said to us, "Here are my keys." In a pandemic, God has said to us, "Here are my keys." In increasing financial uncertainty, God has said to us, "Here are my keys." In an election where too many people have placed too much hope in a person and not enough hope in God, God has said to us, "Here are my keys." In a season of racial division that is shouting loudly on every news channel and across our country, God has handed us the keys to his kingdom and said - "I trust you."
For whatever reason, known only to God, he made us adults at this crazy point in history. God has said, "I know the world is crazy, I know times are uncertain, I know that culture around you has changed, and I made you alive during this time. I made you a living and breathing person in this moment in time." In a time when people need hope, God has said, "Here are my keys." In a time when people are lonely, God has said, "Here are my keys." In a time when people need love and care, God has said, "Here are my keys." In a time when people need Jesus, God has said, "Here are my keys, I trust you."
Recently I heard these words fall from the lips of one of my friends. "Pastor, I am struggling to trust God right now." Honestly, I could also feel the struggle. Maybe you feel it, too, as you read these words; you can sense the tension of knowing God can be trusted with actually trusting him moment by moment. Let's flip the sentiment because we actually do know that God can be trusted.
We know God can be trusted, but can I be trusted? Can I be trusted with a pandemic? Can I be trusted with my neighbors? Can I be trusted with his good news? Can I be trusted with uncertainty? Am I trustworthy? When I live into this question and search for the answer, I rise to the occasion.
Pray this with me:
"Thank you, God, for letting us be here when the entire world shut down, when politics and racial tensions erupted into violence and pain. Thank you, God, for the joy of being counted trustworthy in the middle of uncertainty and how that reminds people that you can be trusted. May we rise to the occasion so people will call you friend during these days, enjoying the reality that you God, have handed us your keys."