To what response does God look for from us in return for his love that knows no boundary, limit or breaking point? The splendor of the human heart that trusts it is loved unconditionally gives God more pleasure than Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s ninth symphony, Van Gogh’s sunflowers, the sight of ten thousand butterflies in flight, or the scent of a million orchids in bloom.
Why is trust such a rare and priceless treasure? Because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic. When the shadow of Jesus’ cross falls across our lives in its form of rejection, abandonment, loneliness, failure, unemployment, loss of income, depression. When the world around us is suddenly a hostile and a menacing place, when we are deaf to everything but the shriek of our own heartache we may cry out in anguish, “But how could a loving God permit that to happen?” At that moment the seed of distrust is sown.
I am now utterly convinced that childlike surrender in trust is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship. And I would add that the supreme need in most of our lives is an unshaken, unfailing trust in the love of God. It’s the remedy for so much of our fear, and our anxiety, our melancholy, our self-hatred and our sickness.
The heart converted from mistrust to trust in the irreversible forgiveness is redeemed from the corrosive power of fear. The existential dread that salvation is reserved for the proper and the pious. The nameless fear that I’m predestined to backslide. The brooding pessimism that the good news of God's wild, passionate, orchestrally called the Furious Love of God is simply too good to be true. All these things combine to weave a thin membrane of distrust that keep us in a chronic state of anxiety.
The best definition of faith is, faith is the courage to accept acceptance. Of me as I am with all of my warts, flaws, with all my selfishness, dishonesty, degraded love. Right now with all of my shallow faith, my inconsistent discipleship, Jesus loves me and accepts me as I am and not as I should be, because I’m never going to be as I should be.
Is Your heart overflowing with compassion because they feel exiled from You? Do You see their entire lives right now as a cry of longing? A prayer of heartfelt longing? Longing for You alone. And the moment they call Your name will you sweep them up into Your arms and embrace them?
God is forever loving you and there is nothing you can do to increase his love for you, nothing you can do to diminish it.
If God stopped thinking of you, He would cease to exist
Fear is useless. What is needed is trust.
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Everyone keeps telling me I look smaller now
My dad is proud of me
He says he’s seen me grow into a man
The truth is I’m fading away
Twenty-five pounds of flesh and blood
Prune the limbs
Break them down again
Growth requires decay
The spring requires the cold
Life requires a death
Trust is all I have left
I am afraid my life doesn’t mean anything
When I die I’ll fade out in the night
Just another faceless name
Ashes to dust what does it matter
If I die old in my sleep or young with cancer?
I want you to be real so bad
I want you to be real so bad
Oh I’ve just worked so hard
And now I’m weeping in the arms of my wife
What is this grief?
Is it the loss of a simple faith?
Or have I come to see the depths of my idolatry?
Can’t lift the veil
Or balance the scales
Growth requires decay
The spring requires the cold
Life requires a death
Trust is all I have left
Oh can it be that there’s someone that loves me?
That the Ache that I feel
When I look up at the night
Is you pressing down on me?
Grace, Trust, Rest, Peace
Aging gracefully
All I am is dust to dust
All I need is ruthless trust
Singer-songwriter Gabe Larson is the artistic gravity behind Waldemar, a heartland indie rock band, based in Eau Claire,
Wisconsin. Waldemar combines soaring vocals and poignant, confessional lyrics against a dense backdrop of sweeping guitar tapestries and synth textures to deliver a sonic freight train of an album, 'Ruthless'...more
The former frontman of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart lets loose with a passionate, Dylan-esque record full of razor-sharp lyricism. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 2, 2021
The latest album from British indie rock band is filled with pared back tracks recorded in various countries while the band was on tour. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 23, 2020
