See His Heart - Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Welcome to another season of Lent. Starting today, we’re encouraged to take up the traditional practices of fasting, praying and almsgiving. Today, in fact, is set aside as a special day of fasting, as we are marked with ashes, and we’re reminded that we are dust.
 
But there’s another side to Lent that we can dig out from looking a little more closely at the Gospel, and the three sentences that begin with these three words, “Your Father Sees…” It tells us that God is always looking on us with love, so we don’t have to work all that hard to get his attention. More than anything, our Lenten observances are here to help us begin looking at him, see his heart-filled love, and trust him.
 
This is the good news of Lent: God sees each of us. He knows us. He is committed to us. He passionately loves us. No amount of work on our part can increase his love for us. And despite the fact that we may not be able to see his face, hear his voice, or feel his touch, we can trust him.
 
I was listening to a prayerful hymn the other day that encapsulates this sentiment.  It says this about God, “When you don’t understand, when you can’t see his plan, when you can’t trace his hand, trust his heart.”
 
By all means, we should fast and pray and give alms as we journey through Lent.  But remember that these practices aren’t meant to grab hold of God’s attention. They’re meant to guide our focus on Him, see in Him the unseeable, hear from Him the unhearable, and feel his presence though he is untouchable. This is the beauty of our faith.
 
We can take confidence in what scripture tells us. In Matthew 21, Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, if you have faith and do not waver, if you say to this mountain be lifted up and thrown into the sea, it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”
 
We need to let our requests be known to God, not as if we are the master and he is the genie, but simply as author Charlie Shedd once said, “Prayer is an inner dialogue with our best friend”. Our prayer can be: "Lord, I’ve got issues that I’ve been dealing with all day long, and they are getting the best of me. I can’t solve them on my own. But, I will follow you.  I trust your promises to me.  I know that you’re with me though I can’t see you. I trust that you will carry me through this.”
 
Helen Steiner Rice once wrote this prayer in poem form:
 
“God, teach me to be patient, teach me to go slow,
Teach me how to wait on You when my way I do not know.

Teach me sweet forbearance when things do not go right
So I remain unruffled when others grow uptight.

Teach me how to quiet my racing, rising heart
So I might hear the answer You are trying to impart.

Teach me to let go, dear God, and pray undisturbed until
My heart is filled with inner peace and I learn to know your will.”
 
So today, if we have problems with our jobs, our relationships, or our finances – whatever our burdens, we need to bring them to Jesus. We know from Romans that “all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose”, even though when or at what point we will find the resolution we seek remains a mystery.
 
When we don’t understand, when we can’t exactly see his plan, when we can’t trace his hand, we will trust his heart.  We place our trust in God, not in our own wisdom, knowing that we can’t possibly go wrong if we commit to follow Jesus wherever he leads!