"'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word."
This first phrase of the popular old hymn seems incredibly simple and sublime. The familiar words roll out of our mouths as if it were such an easy thing—to trust Jesus. But in my daily spiritual struggle, many times I find trusting Jesus anything but sweet. It is difficult, hard, frustrating and agonizing. You see, the consequence of living under Satan, CEO of Earth, means that I will be hurt. My family and ones I love will be hurt. When the tears flow and the hearts break—that is when it is really tough to trust Jesus. When the pain and sadness and uncertainness of our circumstances are more than we feel we can bear, it is then we so desperately need to trust Him and yet we find it so hard.
Louisa Stead wrote this poem after watching her husband drown while trying to save a little boy. She probably went through all the agony of questioning and grief before she finally pronounces it "sweet." The sour, bitter agony of hurt becomes "sweet." In the second phrase she says, "I am so glad I learned . . ." Trusting Jesus is a learned behaviour and like any other habit, the more we practice the better we get.
Today I took another little step in trusting Jesus. Like Louisa wrote, may we all have the "grace to trust Him more!"
Sharon
