The day after Christmas, perhaps you’re like me and you woke up to find your pants don’t quite fit you the way they did last Wednesday. You’ve indulged, you’ve savored and you’ve taken Jesus’ words of “eat, drink and be merry” as a personal challenge. It’s BIG BUT DAY, however look closely at the title, there’s only one T in that but.

Psalm 31:14 “But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying “you are my God.”

Life has a way of continually bringing us back to a humble place of being on our knees. We are high, then we are low. We are up, then we are down. We are hopeful, then the wind gets knocked right out of us.

There are some things in life we simply can’t fix, we can’t control and we didn’t see them coming. And although they are out of our control, we still have a choice. We have a choice to keep trusting God.

Our scripture this morning says BUT I am trusting you. Before this verse is an entire chapter of all that is going wrong in the author’s life. He is sad, he is frightened, he is being threatened, and his very life is at stake BUT. BUT, in spite of it all, I am trusting God.

We like to live without the need for a BUT. Wouldn’t we love the opportunity to have the next 40 years of stress free, care free life, guaranteed to go exactly as planned. Come on God, give me a steady upper. Let all my goals be reached with minimal effort. I’m looking for easy. Yes, that’s it. Let’s just make life easy God.

And God in all his wisdom knows that without the struggle, without the uncertainty, without the dark times, we would eventually stop needing him. We would become full of ourselves living under our own power.

Things may not be perfect in your world right now, in fact I bet that’s approximately 100% of us today. You woke up to less than perfection. There’s a stress, there’s a worry, and one big huge uncertainty backed by several “what if’s”, “time’s almost out’s” and a “this isn’t getting any better”. And what follows all of this can be a really big but. But, God’s mercies are new each morning. But God will never leave me or forsake me. But God is working all of this together for my good. But God has a good plan for my life and he’s bigger than anything in my way. But God is for me not against me. Oh, how about a really big but today? But God … But God I am trusting you.

Know that every hurt and struggle you face today may not have been orchestrated by God, but it has been allowed by him. As his child, nothing can touch you without first going through the Father. Nothing comes as a surprise to him and he uses even the attacks of the enemy and Satan’s ugly schemes to simply bring you back to him. Back to God. Back to your creator. Back to your father.

Perhaps today is the day for you to say, this is not what I expected. This is not what I hoped for. I am frustrated and disappointed. I am angry, I am hurt …. BUT I AM TRUSTING YOU O LORD. I choose to say YOU ARE MY GOD.

Imagine standing before a fork in the road. You have a choice to make. You go left, or you go right. One way is to try and handle everything on your own. Keep it together, pick yourself up, and muster up enough strength to just make it through today. It’s a heavy load carrying that bitterness, that anger, and that hurt, but you’ve kind-of gotten used to it.

That is one way. But (a really big but) there’s another way. This fork in the road presents another option. An option of opening your hands, dropping your heavy load and saying I trust you O Lord, you are my God …. now carry me. Carry me through this grief. Carry me through this trouble. Protect my heart and mind. Strengthen me with your power as I trust in you. I walk this path with you. I choose you. I choose to cling to you. I won’t try and do this on my own for one more day. Not for one more moment. I kinda suck at doing this on my own anyway.

Do you desperately need God today? Well I’m so sorry for the situation that has brought you to a place of desperation, but I’m grateful for what will follow. This is where God comes running right to you, sweeps you up in his mighty arms and carries you. Allow yourself to desperately cry out to him. Trust him. He will come running in this very moment.