I used to love taking my children to the swimming baths and enjoying them jumping into the water from the side, as I moved gradually further and further away. They themselves would jump and be caught so many times that in the end they felt able to do it without help.
The LORD appeared to us in the past saying I have loved you with an everlasting love I have drawn you with loving-kindness (Jeremiah 31 verse 3).
In our youth groups over the years at some point we will do a ‘trust’ activity which I’m sure many of you have done or at least seen. They split into twos and one person stands behind their partner but both facing the same way. The one in front extends their arms fully to the side and is then asked to fall backwards into the arms of the other person without taking a step back. We do talk about the dangers of falling onto your coccyx and usually demonstrate ourselves.
It is quite something to feel trust and to feel trusted and makes an important point about our heavenly Dad. I used to love taking my children to the swimming baths and enjoying them jumping into the water from the side, as I moved gradually further and further away. They themselves would jump and be caught so many times that in the end they felt able to do it without help. I recount the story below to try to show what an exhilarating and joyful life it can be when we trust God: Through the Father’s Love CDs I have made lots of friends around the world.
Having closed my eyes I was suddenly aware of how good it felt to do this and to know I could fully trust this person beside me to be my guide. In fact it was so good I asked if we could speed up a little and not be so cautious, and this felt even better, until in the end we started to run.
One important place for me is Holland, and I recount just one experience there in 2009. Close to Den Haag is the seaside resort of Scheveningen and I went to stay with my friends and their son. We all went onto the sea front for breakfast and enjoyed a great time. We walked and talked together and separately on the walk there, and due to our close friendship we put our arms around each others’ waists as we walked. Now I am a fairly squat and stocky 5 ft 6 inches, whilst both these guys are over 6 ft tall. So it was my expectation that as we walked together we would not ‘fit’ – you know, when you walk with someone and their stride is ‘out of sync’ with yours and instead of gliding along together, you jolt one another, and cannot seem to make the right adjustments. Well, this didn’t happen and it was quite remarkable to me that we did have a synchronicity – in fact so good was the ‘sync’ that I suggested on the way back home that I close my eyes and my friend should just guide me as though I were blind.
Trust and Not Fear
In this way I would place my trust in him and put my well-being into his hands. Having closed my eyes I was suddenly aware of how good it felt to do this and to know I could fully trust this person beside me to be my guide. In fact it was so good I asked if we could speed up a little and not be so cautious, and this felt even better, until in the end we started to run. The exhilaration of the running was amazing and not once did I feel to open my eyes. That night at their fellowship meeting I shared the story and ended up running around church with my partner in the same way, then asked people to have a go themselves.
Father God encourages us to place our trust in Him as we walk with Him, to know that He will be a caring and perfect guide and that we will have nothing to fear with Him at our side. He wants us to get really close so that we can be ‘in sync’ with Him. When we do, it is an exhilarating and full life. But then Jesus did say He had come to give us Life in all its fullness, so why should we be surprised!
Excerpts from John Nuttall’s Father’s Love
