Who do you trust? More to the point, who do you trust with your life? Is there anyone that you would place your very heartbeat within their hands, whereas if they made a mistake, you would no longer be alive? A person you would relinquish your ability to breathe, to grant him or her complete control of whether you live or die.
Do you have that much trust in someone?
Do you have that much trust in someone you don’t even know?
And would you turn over your life with a signature at the bottom of a form?
Willingly?
What is it that tells you it’s okay to let go and allow the anesthesiologist full control of your life? This person you do not know, who will now administer a potent cocktail of sleep-inducing chemicals. You signed the dotted line on the form to authorize it.
You trust them, right?
TRUST
Is it a ‘trick-of-the-mind’ kind of trust that says the procedure is somehow flawless? Or do you believe that it has been done so many times that no real risk exists anymore?
Perhaps.
Then also, blended within that trust is the ‘need’. The point being that to undergo many surgeries there is a requirement to have the patient anesthetized. It is non-negotiable.
We have learned to accept and mitigate these risks for a successful operation. Albeit there is real risk in anesthesia (and any surgery), up to and including death. Death. This ‘complication’ is the one most needing the okay as ‘acceptable’. It is on the waiver you sign at the bottom of the form.
Sign here to accept the possibility of death, and that no lawsuit will be filed in case of such an occurrence. Mmm..okay.
Trust in what?
I write this post because it makes me question where we put our trust.
It seems that as a society worldwide, and especially in what we call, “enlightened” cultures, we would rather trust our very lives with an anesthesiologist instead of God.
There have been several prayer requests over the years for friends and acquaintances who are undergoing surgery. The prayer ask is that they make it through surgery all right, and they wake up from the anesthesia. I understand the prayer, as people have a hard time coming back up from being put under.
Some don’t.
There is risk, mortality figures show it is low, but it is real. We seem to think nothing of it. Maybe because we are scared to consider the risk of trusting.
There is another risk that requires an awful lot of trust… Driving.
Everywhere we go as motorists, we travel down the pavement at the posted rate of speed separated from oncoming traffic by a painted line on the ground.
The typical distance between vehicles coming at each other is about 5 ft.
A PAINTED line is all that prevents us from being killed at any moment while we drive. Inattention or an incorrect nudge of a steering wheel from either driver results in collision.
But for some reason we trust that the painted line will keep us safe. We will get to our destination because of the painted line.
A painted Line.
We can’t seem to trust God with our lives, but we can trust a painted line on the ground.
Fascinating.
I am not above anesthesiology or driving down the road separated from oncoming traffic by a painted line. To partake in these activities, I must accept the risk. As for trust, I truly only trust God. Everything and anything else can be…will be bungled.
It is one thing to trust the LASIK eye surgery as you stare into the device while it cuts into your cornea. It is another thing to trust that a driver will not cross a double painted line and collide with your vehicle. We place our trust in procedures and people. Trusting in people no different than we are, fully able to make very big mistakes. Trusting in machines that need service because they break down.
Let me roll back to the issue of trusting in God.
For most people it is easy to say, “I trust in God”, but quite a different thing to place their lives into the hands of a sovereign LORD that cannot be taken to court or made available to sign a contract.
Here is where I step in with my testimony. Hi there.
To trust God fully, is to give everything and all I am to Him.
Take my life, my career, my dreams, my aspirations, my talents, my creativity, my sensuality, my hopes, my fears, my brokenness, my pain, my mistakes, my sin, and everything that is who I am.
I trust God with everything.
And He carries me.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humans
Psalm 118:8
Even so, I live in this world. When driving on a two-lane highway, my eyes are ever watchful to stay clear of oncoming traffic should they make a mistake and veer into my lane, which would end any chance of reaching the destination.
God did not create the car, the highway, nor paint the line. He did create the humans driving cars; albeit with short attention spans, and easily distracted.
So, when I am behind the wheel, that’s on me.
I trust Christ with my heartbeat and breath. With that trust I will thrust myself backwards off a diving board, into the air, eyes closed, into the pool…not knowing if there is any water in the pool but knowing that if there is water…I cannot swim.
He has never failed to cover me. I trust Him.
That’s all I need to step into ‘today’.
Question of Trust
In summary I ask anyone who reads this post: Do you have complete trust in God? Can you place your life into His grace and salvation, the assurance of LIFE in abundance; with the same level of trust that you have in a painted line?
If not, why? Spend time in solace to consider what barriers you have erected to keep the greatest love from loving you, and why you cannot trust in this love. Then ask Him to remove the barriers. He will.
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD Himself, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 26:3-4
