tainted trust...

First of all let me just say, God is so good! This is an incredible time of year, a time of which always challenges me and causes me to re-evaluate my relationship with God and with Christ. I have been very touched, moved and challenged by Brennan Manning's book Ruthless Trust. I have posted exerpts from this book over and over again. Tonights readings... again...have spoken to me.

"Presumption is such an insidious perversion that trust is merely tainted but corrupted by it. In presumption, we assign to God the task of doing for us what we should be doing for ourselves..."

"The most common form of presumption is the expectation that God will directly and secretly intervene in human affairs. We presume that by saying, "Lord, Lord, " the cancer or the bankruptcy or infidelity will disappear. We presume that God answers all prayers by assuring good outcomes, that food for the widows and orphans will fall from heaven, that the Holy One infallibly guarantees a baby's safe delivery, and that God will certainly sell our house at the desired price if we plant a statue of Saint Joseph upside down in the backyard.....Trust in God does not presume that God will intervene. Often trust begins on the far side of despair. When all human resources are exhausted, when the craving for reassurances is stifled, when we forgo control, when we cease trying to manipulate God and demystify mystery, then- at our wits' end- trust happens within us, and the untainted cry 'Abba, into your hands I commend my sprit,' surges from the heart."