The Lord strengthens and protects me;
I trust in him with all my heart.
I am rescued and my heart is full of joy.
I often envy Stormy, our cat.
She has the amazing ability to curl up in any number of impossible formations and go to sleep at any time of day. Not only can she sleep easily, but she also seems to find the most comfortable places in the house to get her rest. Just today, she has been parked on top of our loveseat, sinking deep into the top of a back cushion by one of our big picture windows. Her hair blows gently as she has found perhaps the most blessed of places in the house — a cozy spot that lies directly beneath an air vent. I’m amazed, but she seems to have figured out that the heating unit kicks on every 10 minutes or so, meaning all she has to do is fall asleep under the heated blow, full-well knowing that she will most likely awaken to the same heavenly feeling.
Don’t you envy her, too?
I was reminded of Stormy last Wednesday night when a friend mentioned in our small group that he was seeking rest during a stressful period of his life. In particular, he mentioned that he was seeking to trust in the Lord more during this time — specifically learning to trust that God will care for him during the stress and that there will be ways he can find a deeper rest. “They go together. Trust and rest,” I kind of blurted out. “It is the first one that enables the other.” In my mind, I was reminded of a homeless friend that I know. He is very restless, very stressed and very broken. He cannot rest because he does not trust, either in family, friends, society or, most importantly, in God.
It was then that an illustration involving our beloved feline friend came to mind. And so I shared it with our small group.
Stormy was already residing at “The Springs” (our new house) when Shannon and I first walked through the door to see it. The house’s owner told us that she was about 9 years old and that she ran to hide every time a knock, crash, bump or human voice entered into her personal space (a.k.a. the whole house!). Stormy did not trust many people. If this was the Old West, you’d say that she slept with one eye open. (Sometimes I think she still does…) In fact, her name comes from her fear of thunder. We were told that she knows when it will crash even before it happens and will run frantically into hiding.
It wasn’t until the end of our tour of the house that we saw the cat. The owners had stepped outside while Mrs. Newton and I discussed the pros and cons of the house and land. It was as we sat on the couches that Stormy came out to say hello. Based on her reputation, we didn’t expect to see her. But she saw or heard something in us that allowed her to overcome her fears. We petted her and held her and, well, made a friend.
We bought the house six weeks later and, after the previous tenant moved out, we took possession of a mostly-empty house. The lady who owned/guarded/befriended Stormy couldn’t take the cat with her, so she offered Stormy to us. With a new house and a new cat, transitioning our stuff into the house while tending to the cat proved to be a challenge. With all the moving out of the tenant’s furniture, Stormy became frightened and depressive. She hid behind the toilet in the bathroom the whole time. Cats hate change. Trust sometimes disappears with change. When I first entered the house after we closed on it, Stormy was nowhere to be found. I wanted to befriend her again and reassure her that we wanted her to become part of our loving family but she was nowhere.
I texted the previous tenant. “Look behind the hot water heater,” she replied. “Stormy sometimes hides there when people come over.” Indeed, wedged in a way that would make most humans permanently mangled, the cat was occupying the tiny nook behind the hot water heater in the utility room. I tried to get her to come out. She refused. I tried to reach in to pet her. She wanted none of that! So I just sat down and started talking to her. Maybe if she learned my voice…
Day after day I came to our new house to move boxes and bookcases. For days, Stormy remained behind the hot water heater. The second day she let me pet her. The third day she made soft “murrs” back at me as I talked to her. By the fifth or sixth day, she finally emerged from her cave. There was no feline exclamation of “You are now my family and I now trust you!” (whatever that would look like). No, she just wandered over to her food bowl for a minute and then, when I accidentally dropped my hammer in the living room, she scampered back to her hideout. The seventh day was a breakthrough in our “trust therapy.” I came through the front door to find Stormy curled up on a blanket Shannon or I had tossed on our loveseat. Aha! I thought. She doesn’t spend all her time behind that heater!
The next few weeks, as we started to spend more time at the house (we were obligated to be in a rental house throughout October), Stormy started to trust us more. We fed her treats. She sat on our laps. It was neat. When we moved in, it seemed like she adopted us into her family. Now, we’re cool. She’ll sleep anywhere she chooses (as mentioned before, usually in envious places…) and when I tell her that we’re heading out to the store, or church, or wherever, she’ll give us a look that says, “Yeah, whatever.”
As I think about trust and rest, I’m reminded of several things:
First, complete trust is not gained overnight. It takes time and experience. For the Christian, as we walk with the Lord we gain the experience that allows us to trust Him. In ancient Israel, God repeatedly delivered His chosen people from peril after peril, leading them like a son or daughter to places where they could thrive. He sought to build trust with them. Repeatedly in the Old Testament we see God instruct Israel to build this or institute that so that they would remember His deeds and trust in Him. “Remembering (God) is an act of faith,” my friend, Andrew, mentioned in church last Sunday. It is imperative for you to look back on your life and, specifically, look for ways in which God has delivered or provided for you. Doing so will build trust in God for your future.
Second, no human can rest in any satisfactory way unless they trust the atmosphere around them. Our cat can sleep deeply on the back of the loveseat because she fully trusts Shannon and me. (On the flip side, she can play with the string I dangle in front of her because she knows that I will not intentionally hurt her.) I can sleep next to my wife because I know that I am loved by her and I trust in her love. I trust that she scolds me for working too hard because she loves me. And I watch out for her energy level because I love her and know that she trusts me.
Third, when we trust in God we can rest. I think of Israel’s King David — before he was king — sleeping in a dry ravine in the Judean Wilderness. He was being chased by King Saul and the army of Israel and, yet, despite the danger of losing his life as he slept, he put his faith in the goodness of God. He writes,
The Lord strengthens and protects me;
I trust in him with all my heart.
Trust is really important if we want to find true rest. Can you imagine yourself as our little scared cat? Are you hiding in the corner — behind your emotional “water heater” — not believing that God can reach you or that you can trust him? The truth is that God can be trusted. Anyone who sticks with us through our travails and rebellions is worthy of trust, I’d say! The author of Hebrews says, “He will never leave us or forsake us.” Even during times of struggle or when we cannot hear His voice very easily, He still is by our side — but a heartfelt cry away. Over and over again God is proclaimed as being faithful to us, despite our fickle faith in Him.
What are ways that you can imagine God reaching out to comfort you or build trust with you? Can you picture God doing that? Will you let Him care for your needs?
If you are looking to build trust in God today, I have an exercise for you. In the Bible, God had His chosen people, Israel, pile up stones into cairns to mark momentous occasions as they entered the Promised Land. The reason was simple: memory. To remember the Lord and what He had done for them. Shannon and I keep our memories of God’s faithfulness to us alive with a physical collection of some sort. She calls her collection her “Ebenezer” jar. I call mine, “milestones of faith.” Basically, when God did something good for us we kept a momento of that moment. She collected pebbles and both she and her friends wrote bible verses and words on them with a marker. Her Ebenezer jar is one of her most cherished possessions. Every time God delivered me from peril, I collected a rock, scrap of wood, or other memento of the event. My “pebbles” weigh a lot more than Shan’s! But each has a story of God’s faithfulness. (I even kept a tire tread from one time when I had a blowout on a busy highway late at night. I also have a scrap of wood from a church roof I helped build in Haiti.)
What do you think about collecting a small “faithfulness” and “trust” collection that you can turn to when times get tough? If you don’t already have something collected, why not spend some time in prayer before God and ask for Him to show you where He has been faithful to you. Then write down on pebbles or pieces of paper the moments that come to mind? Keep it in a jar or canister close by. It may be needed often!
Then rest fully and deeply in the assurance that God not only loves you but you can trust Him to care for you in every area of your life.
Be God’s.
J.C. Newton 