This past week has been sweet, but not the kind of sweet one might initially think of. In fact the days have been mundane, drab, and nothing out of the ordinary and yet so sweet. What is the sweetness I write about? It is the pure, overflowing, perfect sweetness from my Savior. It is the only sweetness that can fill the heaviest soul producing joy, hope, and a proper perspective for that which is and is to come.
I have been reflecting on this sweetness this past week as I began listening to the GTJP series from Elisabeth Elliot. First off if you haven’t heard this series it is a must. As I have been listening and going about my days a resounding truth to life ceases to echo, that is the phrase “Tis so Sweet.” “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word; just to rest upon His promise; just to know, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’”
This is the sweetness of life, to trust in Jesus. To trust Him with all things. To trust Him regardless of circumstance. As I reflect on the stories of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Nate Saint, Amy Carmichael, Adoniram Judson, Ida Scudder, George Mueller, the list could go on… there is one common denominator and that is Jesus. What drove them to do what they did with such joy, passion, motivation, and desire for life - Jesus.
Jim Elliot said “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” and his wife, Elisabeth (Betty), said “There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for.” What is it you live for? Is it worth dying for? The Elliots knew the sweetness of trusting in the Lord giving their lives for Him. As Jim said, “Is it not for all its sting a wonderful way to live, Betty. To dream and want and pray almost savagely. Then to commit and wait and see Him quietly pile all dreams aside and replace them with what we could not dream the realized will. The realized will.” The realized will is God’s will and it is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:2).
How can we trust rather how can we not trust? “This God - his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him” (2 Sam. 22:31). “For you are my lamp, O LORD, and my God lightens my darkness” (2 Sam. 22:29). “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105). We need not know the future rather simply trust the one who already knows it. Simplify your life by focusing on God and do what He asks of today. Obedience to God is one step at a time. To begin start with the Bible. As Dwight L. Moody said “the Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.”
I leave you with a challenge. If you want to know the truth of the phrase “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus” then you must begin to know Jesus. Elisabeth Elliot said “I’ve been given the test of free time. How many of us can pass the test of free time? It’s what a man does when he thinks nobodies looking that reveals his true character. True religion is someone has said is revealed in what you do with your spare time.” Your challenge? Use your spare time well.
The world will not satisfy. Your flesh will not satisfy. Satan will not satisfy. Our souls are satisfied in Christ alone (Ps. 62, Jn. 6:35). I pray you turn your eyes to Jesus and never look back. His way is hard but a life worth living and dying for. No matter what comes you will be equipped because of Christ in you and there will be joy even in the heartache. As Charles Spurgeon said “If the Lord is your joy, your joy will never dry up.” Yes, your joy will never dry up. Don’t wait to begin to understand the sweetness of trusting in Jesus. Start now and when your last earthly breath comes I am confident you will say “I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee, precious Jesus, Savior, Friend; and I know that Thou art with me, wilt be with me to the end.”
GTJP Series https://elisabethelliot.org/resource-library/lectures-talks/and-gateway-to-joy-begins-gtjp-1/
Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus https://youtu.be/-DdgkvnsHjM