“Everybody trusts God on a good day with $20 in their pocket.” Interesting quote!!
It came from the movie “Seasons of Gray,” and just like my family, I can’t know if y’all actually listen to me, so I encourage you to watch this movie again! In this modern day story of Joseph, this little slip of paper was left by a fellow prisoner for Brady (the guy playing Joseph) while he was locked up in solitary confinement. It was a wake up call for Brady’s faith.
It’s also a wake up call for mine.
Joseph and Job are definitely two men who went through tough, tough times. They lost their family, their home, their honor and their health. But no matter what Satan threw at them, they remained solid in their faith. Steadfast in belief. Trusting, even on a very bad day!
Sometimes, for those of us who believe, a death of a loved one or a terminal illness, only drives us to the Cross. It’s the only place we know to go. Sometimes, it is in the more mundane times we become less trusting.
Elijah is an interesting character. It was easy to trust God on a good day with $20 in his pocket, when God was raining fire down from heaven in the sight of all those unbelievers. It was easy to be bold in faith when that fire was licking up even the water they poured on the alter. But when God wasn’t changing Ahab’s mind, and Jezebel decided to send some bad days to Elijah by way of threats, it wasn’t so easy for Elijah to trust. So he ran. And he hid. He was disappointed. And I think he became depressed. It wasn’t so easy to trust God in those bad days feeling empty and broke.
But God did not leave Joseph in the pit or in the prison. He didn’t leave Job in all of his personal ruin. And he didn’t leave Elijah in his depression. He whispered to him, asked him just what exactly he was doing (twice), and simply directed him to get going again.
And He doesn’t leave us either.
Not in our divorce, unemployment, or depression. He doesn’t leave us in our bad days, even when they are brought on sometimes buy our own poor decisions. He picks us up and whispers finish the race, keep the faith, get going again.
So like Casting Crowns sings, I hope to continue trusting the God who gives and takes away. For I know as I sang in church today, His love reaches to the highest mountains and the lowest valleys. I hope we trust him in good days and bad. With just a penny or with $20 in our pocket.