Where Trust is Without Borders
In the summer of 2013, churches worldwide began to sing a wildly popular new tune from Hillsong UNITED. The iconic bridge, the climax of the nine-minute piece, went like this:
“Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders,
Let me walk upon the water, wherever You would call me”
As a long-time worship leader and examiner of songs for their theological content, I found this to be an interesting line; one I wonder how many have pondered.
We love to throw around the phrase, “Trust in God” in any conversation with another Christian involving matters of hardship, fear, or uncertainty. But what exactly does that mean? What does it look like?
In this week’s scripture, we see two instances of Jesus performing miracles. The first is in Mark 6:30-44, where Jesus supernaturally multiplies a meager supply of bread and fish to feed 5,000 people after teaching them. Immediately following, we read about how Jesus walks on water to His disciples’ boat and calms the wind (45-52).
Upon reading verses 30-44, my first question was why Jesus instructed the Disciples to escape to a remote place (31). Jesus, being His all-knowing self, obviously had the foresight that they would run into crowds at shore. What was the point of instructing them to go rest, when He knew they would be doing just the opposite?
I then noticed, in verses 48-51, that Mark recorded some key steps which led up to Jesus walking on water. First, Jesus instructs them to get in a boat while He goes off to pray. Secondly, He emerges at around 3 A.M. while His Disciples are being tossed around at sea. Verse 49 says they thought He was a ghost. Finally, they realize it is Him performing another miracle.
Flipping back to the feeding of the 5,000, I noticed the common thread between both episodes: Jesus set the stage to show His greatness and to test the disciples’ faith.
He did not stroll into the middle of town one afternoon and randomly rain food from the sky. He created a situation where an enormous crowd would be gathered, in a place where they had nothing to eat, right on the heals of teaching them. Verse 34 says, “they were like sheep without a shepherd”. Talk about a live illustration.
Similarly, He did not just wake up one morning and walk on the water. He moved the chess pieces ahead of time to create the perfect context in which to perform the miracle.
In both instances, the Disciples were faced with moments of doubt. They had no clue what Jesus was up to. But in both instances, He not only came through, but He had orchestrated the entire plan from start to finish. He used the uncertainty of both situations to His ultimate glory.
It is important that we know what it means to not just trust, but trust in. We trust that our morning news source is reliable. But to trust in involves complete surrender to someone else at great personal risk.
The thought of trust without borders should induce a little trepidation. How often do mundane things like stopped traffic or a meeting with higher-ups make you anxious? Now compare that with the thought of handing an invisible God the keys and letting Him take the driver’s seat of your life.
Jesus knows your faith isn’t perfect. It is for that reason we should expect it to be stretched throughout our lives by way of trials. Will you embrace those moments as opportunities to grow your trust in Him? Will you hand Him the keys?
Ask for stronger faith and He will give it to you. Better yet, He will bring it out of you. And through that, you will eventually see just how great He is.
1 Peter 1:6-7 says,
“You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
~ Jared Grenfell and his wife Grace have have been active members of the LIFE Fellowship community for several years and lead a young adult LIFE Community. Jared has served in various roles on the LIFE Worship team including Music Director.