Meditation : Wycliffe World Day of Prayer – 11th November 2022

Photo: Aileen Agoncillo

Trust

Romans 15:13 (NLT)
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Trust and joy are an inseparable combination and essential if we are to endure the journey we are on. We trust God because of who he is: the source of hope. As we trust he fills us with joy and peace. The joy and peace strengthen us, and we have renewed hope and the increased ability to trust – thus we are strengthened in times of great trial or disappointment.

We consider the character of God. It is multi-faceted and in many ways beyond our understanding. As we immerse ourselves in Scripture, we find God to be all-knowing, all-powerful, ever present, kind, merciful and compassionate. He is the father who loves to give good things to his children and the sovereign King who holds the whole world in his hands.

We trust because God is a covenant keeping God. His character and his Word are enduring and unchanging and so he has to be faithful (2 Tim 2:13) even when we are faithless.

We can take this time to worship God and nourish our souls again with the truth of who he is.

Stories of Trust

• Would have given up
  
• Trusting with joy
  
• God’s plan is better
  
• Our powerful God
  
• Faith moves us

Joy

Joy comes from trusting God, not from our ever changing circumstances. We recognise that there must be times of mourning and sadness. It is important to seek God in our grief and walk with him through times when we lament (Eccles 3:4.) However, we must not immerse ourselves so completely in our grief that we become mired in our sorrow. We also remember that there are times when it is appropriate to throw off grief and sadness “...for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)

Regardless of the situations in which we find ourselves, we can experience joy by:

• Finding hope and security in the one who will not let us down (Psalm 91:2-4)
  
• Recognising that the troubles of this world are finite but eternally we will be with him. (Psalm 30:5, 11-12)
  
• Reminding ourselves that God is building endurance in our lives so that we can stand firm. (James 1:2-4)
  
• Worshipping and praising God fills us with joy as we focus on who he is and what he has done for us. (Psalm 84:1-7)

Stories of Joy

• Working in partnership to provide Scriptures
  
• Testimony of a Himba woman
  
• Faithfulness in small things

Endurance

Enduring – pressing on, persevering – is what we are called to do. But like trusting God it is not accomplished through our own inner strength. Rather endurance emerges from the trust we have in the God who cannot fail us. We fix our eyes on Jesus and he strengthens us to keep running the race. We follow his example.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT) reminds us:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honour beside God’s throne.

We can be encouraged as we read and meditate on the following Scriptures:

Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

Other translations of this verse use the word hope or wait instead of trust. Trust is exhibited in a position of hope and waiting. As we turn our faces and hearts towards God, acknowledging his sovereignty and that his timing is perfect, that we are strengthened to endure the trials we face. This trust develops in us fruitfulness, as we make the Lord our hope.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)
But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.

Stories of Endurance

• Trusting God in a world of suffering and uncertainty
  
• Partners in ministry
  
• A long journey having the whole Bible

Helpful Resources