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Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD, my soul.
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.
(Psalm 146:1-5)

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As followers of the victorious Lord Jesus Christ, we use divine strategies for navigating our way in the world, not human ones. \xa0And that makes us a bit strange. \xa0

But it\u2019s a theme that flows through the full breadth of the Bible\u2014even here in these last five praise Psalms of the Psalter. \xa0

It\u2019s a theme the Church tends to forget though, just like the rest of God\u2019s people throughout the ages. \xa0Or at least, we have a hard time grasping it. \xa0And the crux of the problem is probably this: God asks that as we rely on Him\u2014the God who we can\u2019t see\u2014we drop our reliance on many of the things that we can see: humans, government, insurance providers, political parties, the strength of our own actions and agency in the world, the number in our bank account, you name it.

God asks us to let go of the things that we feel we have some control over in order to trust in Him, the God who we cannot control. \xa0

What a difficult thing.\xa0

At many-a leadership training retreat, you\u2019ll find an exercise called the \u201ctrust fall.\u201d \xa0One of the folks at the retreat will be blindfolded, told to cross their arms in front of their chest so that they can\u2019t use their arms, and then are told to lean back until they fall over. \xa0The idea being, that the rest of the members of the team behind you will catch you, not letting you hit the ground. \xa0Of course, you\u2019re blindfolded, so you can\u2019t be sure that they\u2019re there. \xa0And, maybe you don\u2019t know these people all that well\u2014are they the sorts of folks that would let you fall just to laugh and point? \xa0You don\u2019t know. \xa0But you can\u2019t rely on your own legs or arms to catch you either\u2014you\u2019re vulnerable. \xa0Helpless. \xa0Nothing between you and the floor but the trust that these unseen strangers will indeed do what they said they\u2019d do, and catch you. \xa0

Following this God we claim is a lot like that. \xa0He tells us that in fact, we\u2019re already vulnerable and unable to do much to save ourselves. \xa0Despite the illusions of control we seemingly have over this world and our place in it, we cannot save ourselves. \xa0Not from sins, but also not from the generational hurts of our families, the restructuring of our workplace, the chronic pains of our bodies. \xa0We actually have very little control over our world and lives. \xa0We\u2019re quite vulnerable, and our position in this world is always somewhat precarious. \xa0

So God asks us to let go of the things we can see and to fall into His hands\u2014the hands of the God we cannot see\u2014instead. \xa0An act of trust: a trust fall. \xa0 \xa0

It is easier to trust the people we can see though, like our political leaders. \xa0Or the things we can hold, like our insurance and OHIP cards. \xa0Or the things we can do, like work or think our way to a place of self-sufficiency. \xa0

But all these things, including our own strength is guaranteed to fail at some point or another. \xa0We don\u2019t live forever. \xa0Pandemics happen. \xa0So do other crises. \xa0

There is only One who can guarantee our trust will not be broken\u2014and that\u2019s God. \xa0The only One who remains unchanging amid our changing lives and circumstances, the only One who endures beyond the fleeting strength of our bodies and institutions. \xa0

So, will you let yourself fall into the arms of God? \xa0Even though you can\u2019t see Him?

Blessed is the one whose hope and trust is in The Lord their God.

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