Whoever sincerely pronounces this prayer leaves his own will and puts all things in the will of God. But the will inspired by the demons consists is self-justification and trust in ourselves, and then they easily subject a man who receives this sort of thought.
~St. Barsanuphius the Great
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry… For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in 2 Timothy 4
Oh beloved, it is true.
There comes a day – and it is terribly important – where we come to a crisis. Oh, the first crisis was one where we had to give up any hope in ourselves, and cast our faith on Christ for this whole Christianity thing to work.
Then, there comes a deeper crisis. We come upon a time where our walk is not working, and we enter into what the mystics have called, “The Dark Night of The Soul.” And a modern writer spoke of it eloquently as, “The Great Sadness.” This is a place where we wonder – successfully – whether we can trust G_d. And… by His Grace again, we are able to break through.
But then… comes a terrible day beyond our unwillingness to trust Him. We had, in our willingness to come to trust Him, thought that we could perhaps trust other people. Oh, we knew we couldn’t trust ourselves, but we had hoped we could trust others.
We can’t.
Can we see it?
Yes, this is terrible. The reality that no one around us is anyone in whom we can believe, is very painful. We had hoped. We had even worked for this, but we were shown – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that no one really cares for us.
But, it is clarifying. And, it is actually quite freeing. In our coming to realize that no one around us is worth believing in, we come to see even more clearly that He is the Only One in Whom we should be trusting anyway.
So, have you been hurt by the broken promises of those around you? Have you come to realize that there is absolutely no one in whom you can place your trust? Good. Perhaps you, and this fool of a writer, are right on track.
Beyond the Wicket Gate of consecration, and having passed through the dark night of the soul, we find that there is NOTHING but Him worth even worrying about.
Tonight is your night. Time to quit trusting.
A true leader must have enough backbone to stand alone—even when the crowd wants to take the easy road home. A true leader cannot be dependent on companionship for his or her security, but must learn to trust in God alone.
~Leslie Ludy
