In God We Trust

Skydivers meticulously pack their parachutes prior to taking off on a skydiving experience. They pack the parachute, then check and double check the contents of the parachute to make sure they have everything they need for a safe landing. When the skydiver places the parachute on their back they must have complete trust that the content on their back will get them to a safe and secure landing. Once the skydiver jumps out of the plane they will experience turbulence, twist, turns and their lives can feel like its in a free fall. That’s precisely when they have to trust what’s on their back, literally has their back!

Life can sometimes make us feel like we have been pushed from a plane at 10 thousand feet experiencing a free fall with unexpected turns, unforeseen twist and turbulence that will flips our existence upside down! When that happens we need to know that we have something we can trust to help us land safely. We need to know that we have something that has our back and can brace our free fall and help us to land softly on our feet.

The spread of the deadly and dangerous Covid-19 virus has many of us in a free fall, if you will. The rapid spread and real threat of the virus has created unexpected turbulence that has resulted in our worlds economy, health care systems, social norms and personal lives being turned upside down! The question in these times becomes who can we trust to break the fall? Who can we trust to soften the landing? Who can we trust to help us to land on our feet when it all said and done?

Psalm 91 tells us we can and should place our trust in the Most High God, The Almighty God, The Lord God, The Creator of heaven and earth! Like a securely packed parachute Psalm 91 verse 1-2 has 39 words that we can carry with us each day to be reminded that God in fact has our back!

The Psalmist gives us four reasons to trust God in this turbulent season:

We can trust God because He is the Most High God or El-Elyon - This name for God conveys to us the trust inspiring thought of God as the possessor of heaven and earth. The Most High God is the owner of all of heaven and He is the owner of everything in the earth. That means nothing is above God and nothing can get around God. In other words what ever comes our way in this life The Most High God either arranged it or allowed it. Whatever comes your way God knows how to handle it. We may not understand all of the chaos in our world right now. We may not know how to handle what’s going on in our world. It may seem out of control to us. But we can trust The Most High God because as the owner of heaven and earth He can handle what is too hard or heavy for us. Trust The Most High God.

We can trust God because He is The Almighty God or El Shaddai - This name for God means He is the God who provides. The worldwide health crisis has begun to turn our global, national and local economies upside down. Businesses, large and small alike, are scrambling to survive in the marketplace. Workers across almost every industry are looking nervously to employers for answers about their jobs and financial futures. People are worried about meeting the basic needs of their families. In times like these we need to know God is our provider. He can and will take care of us. King David declared in Psalm 37 “I was young and now I am old and I have never seen the righteous forsaken or His seed begging for bread.” God, El-Shaddai, makes provisions for His people. Trust the Almighty God.

We can trust God because He is The Lord or Jehovah - This name for God teaches us that God is the promise making, promise keeping God. In other words, God has the ability to make a promise and the power to bring that promise to pass. People make promises all the time. Some people make promises with no intention of carrying through on their offer to help you. They lack the basic integrity to even try and follow through on their commitments. And some others make the promise with every intention of following through. They just do not have the power to make it happen. They “meant it when they said it.” They really did but the reality is they do not have the power to bring the promise to pass. Not so with The Lord Jehovah. He has the integrity and the power to do everything He said He would do. If God said it you can count on it! You can trust The Lord Jehovah.

We can trust God because He is Elohim, the creative God - This simply put means God can make a way out of no way. He is the creative God. When we first meet God in the book of Genesis we meet Him creating. In the beginning God created...God is the creator. And when are backs are against the proverbial wall and we seeming have no way out. God will make a way where there is no way!

That’s what the resurrection of Jesus teaches us. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the entire world. Jesus did not die because He was guilty of any sin. No, He was without sin. He died to make a way for you and me to have a right relationship with God our Heavenly Father. Jesus death, burial and resurrection made a way for us to have fellowship with God when there was no other way. Our sins separated us from God. We had no way to be reconciled or connected back to God the Father because of our wrong doing. But God, through Jesus, made a way out of no way for us to be saved! God is Elohim the creative God! We can trust Him to create a way for us to make it through this crisis and come out on the other side stronger!