“Put Your Trust In The Lord…!”

“Put Your Trust In The Lord…!”
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame” (Rom.9:30-33).
This quotation from parts of Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16 was apparently used by the early believers in defense of the Messiahship of Jesus.
The Jews regarded the early Christians as a bad joke. This quotation was to remind the Jews that Jesus the Christ was mentioned in their own very scriptures.
We are often blinded by prejudice so much so that we become victims of eclectic reading of texts. We see what we want to see and not what is written. The question which the Ethiopian eunuch posed to Philip remains relevant for all times. “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?”(Acts 8:31). It is also not about the religious rank we have attained; it is by faith that spiritual insight is attained. That is why Jesus asked Nicodemus, “You are Israel’s teacher and do you not understand these things?”(Jn.3:10).
Teachers who do not understand what they teach are blind guides. Jesus says the message of the kingdom is plain only to some few. To the rest it is given in parables so that, “though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand”(Lk.18:9-14).
When God sent prophet Nathan to rebuke king David for killing Uriah and taking his wife, the prophet spoke to David in a parable which caused David to condemn himself. That’s when the prophet told him, “You are the man!” (II Sam.12:1-10&13-15).
Each time we fail to understand the word of God we tend to pursue righteousness by the standards we ourselves have set, and not on God’s standards. As such we emphasis righteousness through works instead of righteousness through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ becomes a stumbling block to those who are perishing in the sense that they insist on the man-made law of righteousness.
But if you trust in Jesus Christ you “will never be put to shame” because Jesus Christ has carried away all your shame. You would now do the works of righteousness as a submissive complement for what God in Christ has done for you.
My friend, the question to answer for yourself is, “Who is Jesus Christ to you, a stone that makes you to stumble or one in whom you trust?
Sunday prayer: Lord Jesus Christ my trust is in you alone. Give me a noble and good heart, to hear your word, retain it and by persevering produce a crop. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you!