The Christian Letter, Volume One: Chapter 47
“He covers you with His feathers,
and under His wings you take refuge;
His truth is a shield and armour.” (Psalms 91:4).
From coins, to our very words, trust is earned by both receiving and giving. Trustworthiness, or faithfulness in other translations, is the transportation of sap to and from the fruit. To be without this component of fruit, we would become pithy before falling to the ground with an underdeveloped seed. If we have no faith—then we are untrustworthy.
Many plants, such as lettuce and cucumbers, need to be harvested very early in the morning, or they are bitter. During the day, plants take sugars and moisture from the fruit and leaves, to be stored in the roots and branches. The Creator gives to us, and we give back, and then He gives more to us, ‘til our fruit is ready to harvest.
But are we trustworthy?
Consider Job for a moment. While we may not want to go through the pains and hardships he did, does Yahoweh look with trust at us, like He did Job and several other men and women of Scripture? It seems almost blasphemies at first to say that Elohim has faith in us, but I assure you, if He did not, then He would have never sent His Son. He loved us first, and gives us chances to this day. He longs to be able to say: “There is my trustworthy servant—my very own child.”
Or consider Noah, the builder of the ark. Genesis 6-8 shows us that there was a worldwide flood. In the flood, many of the land animals and sea creatures were buried in sedimentary rock all over the earth. This worldwide flood produced an extraordinary testimony to the truth, a physical memorial in the earth, with mountains formed and continents split. What we may not realize about the flood, though, is an underlying truth about why Yahoweh asked Noah to do something that seemed so peculiar.
“This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with Elohim.” (Genesis 6:9). Noah walked with Elohim in a time when Yahoweh was grieved that He had made the world. Men were corrupt, and full of violence, with every thought of man’s heart only on evil, all of the time. Our Father’s heart was filled with pain, and so He unfolded His plan to His friend Noah. Yahoweh asked Noah to build an ark (a large boat with many rooms) because He was going to send a world-destroying flood.
“Now no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for Yahoweh Elohim had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground, but a mist went up from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground.” (Genesis 2:5-6). To the people of Noah’s time, the idea of a worldwide flood, since there had never been rain before, was just as bizarre as the idea of our gravity disappearing for forty days. Yet, Noah did as His Heavenly Father asked. I can imagine what some of his friends and family said, as well as his neighbors. “You’re building what! An ark to house how many animals? [Insert laughing here]. The Spirit told you that, eh? [Insert more laughing here]. I do believe your age has truly started to show, old man.”
However, in Noah’s faith we can find another faith, a stronger faith … that of Elohim. Yahoweh trusted His friend, Noah. While we all seem to have more faith in our past than our present, Yahoweh has more faith in our future than our past. Yahoweh could have destroyed Adam and Eve, and been completely righteous. Our Father could have destroyed the world, simply taken Noah up into His Kingdom, and been completely righteous. Our Father could have destroyed us, but He did not. It would seem, then, that our Father has more faith in us … than we do in Him. So let us do what He has trusted us in faith to do. Through worship, be a witness of His Holy Love to all of the ones our King longs to hold as His. “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19).
Trust in Yahoweh is to be greater than our faith in anything or anyone. Often people have faith in the preacher’s message of salvation, but not in Isaiah’s. Why would we put more faith in a light switch than our Master and Creator? Not only do we put faith in things that merit no faith, while questioning His Word, we put faith in people (including ourselves) more than Yahoweh. Is this the fruit of the Spirit called trustworthiness? Is it wise to place faith in religions that claim to be science, but not the Founder of Law? Trade your faith of worshiping Him the way you want to, with loving Yahoweh as He desires. Trade your faith in the finding of no evidence of a certain thing, for the evidence being His very Word. Trade your faith in the light switch, for He who created light itself!
What has Yahoweh called you to do? Has He called you to write, as He did me? (I never would have thought I could write one paper, let alone books.) Perhaps He has called you to tend to His creations at an animal refuge. I am sure Noah learned that the woodpeckers inside are a bigger threat than the storm outside (as even a small leak of water, or sin, can sink an enormous ship, or a man). Perhaps Yahoweh has something similar for you to learn. The Creator does love animals, and therefore caring for them is a grand thing for you to do. While working there, you may encounter people who need you more than the animals do, especially if you pray in faith for this. Perhaps the Heavenly Father has called you to care for the old woman across the street, or maybe He trusts you to care for orphans in a foreign land. Do not think that what He calls you to do is too strange, pointless, or something that couldn’t possibly be done by you. Saving yourself from all the ridicule in the world is not worth missing out on the play of life that Yahoweh has written down in His program. “And Noah did according to all that Elohim commanded him, so he did.” (Genesis 6:22). Will you? Our Father wants us to do what He created us to do, but if we turn down His Will, He’ll have to find someone else who will be trustworthy enough to build an ark of faith.
No gardener would ever plant a seed if there were no trust or faith that it would grow. His Word will not return to Him void; therefore, He does not plant His Word where it will not grow. We cannot bear fruit without the Vine. We cannot. If we do not trust that He has asked us to do something, then we will not do it. If we do not have enough faith to tithe, to keep Sabbath, to love, to even eat, on earth as it is in Heaven, then tell me why He would trust us with more of His Word?
Many trust tradition more than the Word, yet Yahoweh has remained faithful, even hopeful, that we will love Him back. One has but to read the Book of Job to know. Circumstances can cause us to lose trust, but only if the wound is greater to you than the Healer. Job believed in Yahoweh more than his own pain. Noah cared for the young animals on the ark, spending more time for them than himself. Will you allow yourself to be righteous enough to care for the animals, like Noah? Will you do as the Creator says, even if it seems odd? Will you put more faith in Him, than the pain of the world? Let us take this allotted time we have now, before it is too late, and truly accept Him, every last Word, in faith—in the fruit of the Spirit trustworthiness.
From the talents given to the three (Matthew 25:14-30), to the last message given to the disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), the Almighty trusts us, and we trust Him—only our trust is lacking, and must grow. No one can truly love without faith. Without mutual trust, there can be no friendship, no relationship, with our Saviour. Let us, therefore, increase our yield of trust. To do this, we must find water:
“Blessed is the man who shall not walk in the counsel of the wrong, and shall not stand in the path of sinners, and shall not sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the Torah of Yahoweh, and he meditates in His Torah day and night. For he shall be as a tree planted by the rivers of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither, and whatever he does prospers.” (Psalms 1:1-3).
Be Blessed and be a Blessing
Shalom
-Valentine Thalken Billingsley
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Additional Scripture References:
Proverbs 28:9, Deuteronomy 32:20, Luke 18:7, Luke 18:8, James 1:22, Ephesians 3:16-19, Luke 17:5, Isaiah 25:1
