I want to trust you, Lord

Leaning

Amy Carmichael

The Lord spoke to me, like a firm grasp of the hand.

Isaiah 8:11

Blessed be the Lord our God, who does – if we speak the honest truth – cause His word to come to us in just this way: like a strong hand reaching out for us to take hold of firmly, and to take hold of us.

Sometimes this firm grasp comes as He opens our understanding to a single word. His hand has grasped me, in recent days, as my understanding opens up to the word trust.

Trust, I have learned, means: to lean on, to place the weight of my confidence upon… And after this discovery, I’ve found many verses in the Psalms that provide great comfort when translated this way. For instance, I have trusted in [leaned on, placed confidence in] your lovingkindness [Psalm 13:5].

So I may say: That lovingkindness which has loved me with an everlasting love, which forgives and cleanses and will never tire of me – that lovingkindness, Lord, I lean on.

We know that this is not objectionable to the Lord, that He in fact welcomes it. As David sang: “The Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who [leans on] Him” [Psalm 32:10].

Doesn’t this tell us something about the love of God – and isn’t it just like Him to let us know that He wants us to lean on, not only His lovingkindness, but His very self? Consider these words, which will further open your understanding:

Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples whom Jesus loved [John 13:23].

Whoso leaneth on the Lord, happy is he [Proverbs 16:20].

He is indeed happy with us!

Now see what happens when we lean on Him:

Cause me to hear…for on Thee do I lean [Psalm 143:8].

It was when John was leaning that He heard the Lord’s answer to the question that troubled others.

And this wonderful promise, so often repeated:

What time I am afraid, I will lean on Thee [Psalm 56:3].

I will lean, and not be afraid [Isaiah 12:2].

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace… because he leans on Thee… lean on the Lord forever: for the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength [Isaiah 26:3].

It is marvelous to me that God’s Spirit led the writers of these words to the same special verb, to lean. By one simple word, He means to show us so clearly that it is never anything in us that accounts for the Lord’s goodness to us. Everything we are is given from Him.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart leans on Him and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song will I praise Him! [Psalm 28:7]

May the Lord of love make this word of His to be “like a firm grasp of the hand” to you today.

Prayer

My Father, you welcome me into your presence – and that’s a wonder in itself. More than I can imagine. Then you invite me to lean against you…and a bolt of self-reliance in me resists.

But I want to trust you. To relax the weight of my fears and anxieties against you. To rest, to know how fully trustworthy you are. Help me, Father.

I reach for your hand, feel your firm grip…and I lean my weight against you now.

Selah.