NO–If you view God as a divine Amazon Prime. Find something you want at a reasonable price, make a payment, get free shipping, and it magically appears one day at your front door.
And this is our religious default. We want a higher power on our side, delivering things to us on our schedule.
YES–If you realize that everything (and everything means EVERYTHING) is a gift already given freely to us, including our miraculous bodies.
And this is Jesus’ corrective to our religious default. Life is to be lived from a perspective of grateful awe. Thankful for the wonder of things. Anticipating what lies ahead while knowing that we have little or no control to begin with.
Talking about trusting God, while demanding the creator of the universe conform to our wishes, is nonsense. It’s the setup for what’s bad in religion, such as the so-called “prosperity gospel” and the turning of politicians into pseudo-saviors.
But change comes from beginning to trust that the God Jesus called “Father” is wiser and more caring than we can imagine. We don’t demand, but rather accept and follow.
Isn’t it great that whenever we do something compassionate for a needy person, or something liberating for an oppressed person: We’re really showing who God is? Compassion and justice lie at the heart of the Father. Whenever we are just and loving, we show our gratitude and trust.
We’ll save Amazon Prime for other things.
I am the one, and until you turn gray I will support you. I have done it, and I will continue to bear it; I will support and I will rescue. — Isaiah 46:4