Do I trust God? Part 2 - One Day at a Time

Sorry for the delay. I'm an accountant, and it's year-end. Times were/are hard. Blog abandoned.

I have some trust issues. I'm not sure exactly where all of the stem from, but I attempt to psychoanalyze myself in the shower from time to time. I was in a car accident when I was 9, and for years I've thought I was so antsy about death because I learned at such a young age that I could die. And I was in the shower wondering: why is that what I learned?

It was a very bad accident, doctors said I'd die; I didn't die. Then they said I wouldn't walk; I can walk and run.  They said I might have brain damage; I have a Masters degree from the University of Notre Dame (don't mention Manti T'eo...). So why didn't I learn that God is a healer? A deliverer? A way-maker? Well, I did learn those things as well, but I also learned that I wasn't immune from hurt. Tragically, it was the latter that was internalized.

In my previous blog, Do I Trust God Part 1, I said "I think you have to first realize that you're free, before you can start to trust God...and in what glorious manner you've been freed." That is such a difficult thing, because once you've encountered trouble of any kind, it's hard to ever feel safe again. You know that bad things can happen. And you know that they can happen to you. How do you get past that?

 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.  On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” 

 Exodus 16:4-5

So how do you get past that? One day at a time. 

The Israelites had seen hard times. Let's not forget that. They were slaves for hundreds of years in Egypt. And so even though they had seen miracles, and even though they crossed the Red Sea on dry land, they didn't forget that. 

And so God decided to teach them trust again, one day at a time. "In this way I will test them..." In this way, God will also test us. Am I at a place where I can trust God today for tomorrow?

This is not new information. People have been saying "one day at a time" for eons. "One day at a time" is the AA go-to mantra. But did you realize that it is a biblical principle also (see Matthew 6:34, or recite The Lord's Prayer in your mind)?

Bread from heaven is being "rained" down, so there is a ton of it. But yet they are only to gather enough for that day and:

Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. Exodus 16:19-20

Our distrust of God rots and corrupts what God is doing for us. If they have to hoard manna, then they don't trust God to provide manna the next day. They say, "God gave this to me today, but what if He abandons me tomorrow?!" Day-to-day, unbroken chains of faith are difficult for us to maintain because we are so concerned with "what if?"  But the manna came every day. For 40 years.

So...

Can I trust God for manna? I love that word. The people named it "manna" which literally means "what is it?" God can provide for me tomorrow, and when it comes, it won't be anything that I expected. God works in such mysterious ways that all we can say is "whaaaa?" But can I count on that? Can I depend on God to shock me with His goodness daily? Can I take my Christian walk one day at a time? 

I'll find out...one day at a time.