CLARITY VS. TRUST

Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. — PSALM 9:10

I often ask God for direction or clarity on a particular issue I’m facing or next steps for our business. I sincerely want to know what He wants to do, instead of simply doing what I think is best and asking Him to bless it. And sometimes I just flat-out don’t know what to do and need His help! I even admit that I occasionally fantasize about how easy it’d be if God would just email me a clear bulleted list of next actions. That’s why when my pastor shared this story from Brennon Manning’s book Ruthless Trust, it hit me right between the eyes:

When John Kavanaugh, the noted and famous ethicist, went to Calcutta, he was seeking Mother Teresa … and more. He went for three months to work at “the house of the dying” to find out how best he could spend the rest of his life.

When he met Mother Teresa, he asked her to pray for him. “What do you want me to pray for?” she replied. He then uttered the request he had carried thousands of miles: “Clarity. Pray that I have clarity.”

“No,” Mother Teresa answered, “I will not do that.” When he asked her why, she said, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When Kavanaugh said that she always seemed to have clarity, the very kind of clarity he was looking for, Mother Teresa laughed and said: “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.”

As business leaders – and maybe just as humans – we desire clarity. Knowing something with absolute certainty is so alluring! But I heard Jason Gray, a popular Christian music artist, say something a couple of months ago that has been bouncing around my head ever since. He said, “I used to think the opposite of faith was disbelief, but I’ve come to understand the opposite of faith is something altogether different. The opposite of faith is certainty.” You see faith isn’t necessary when certainty is present. It’s only in uncertainty that faith can manifest and grow.

Think and Pray
Most every godly example we see in the Bible is someone who stepped into uncertainty, trusting God to provide and protect. The life of faith doesn’t wait until God reveals the whole picture.

Lord, we do believe, but help our unbelief! Give us the courage to trust You into the unknown, knowing that your presence is all the provision we need. Amen.


Cal Zant is President of Betenbough Homes in Lubbock, Texas. A software developer by training, was made CIO in 2012 and also charged with leading the ministry team and helping develop future leaders in the company. Today, Betenbough Homes leads Kingdom at Work conferences for business leaders across America. Learn more at https://kingdomatwork.com.

This post is excerpted from a longer article found at https://kingdomatwork.com/clarity-vs-trust/

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