“So Abram went.” What an expression of trust! God called Abram to leave his comfortable life and go out into the unknown. Abram stepped out in faith toward what we have come to know as the Promised Land, but to him it was unknown. He had the courage to trust God to lead the way, long before the writer of the Proverbs penned: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”(Prov.3:5-6, KJV) Because Abram trusted in his experience of God, we know him as the father of our faith, as Paul points out in our epistle for today.

The psalmist too knew what it was to trust God in all things. Take a moment to read Psalm 121 appointed for today, letting each verse soak into your mind and heart. Do you rely on our Creator when you need help? Do you know deep within that God is watching over you, protecting you from evil? Can you trust God to be with you when you experience a call to step out into the unknown, to let go of the status quo? That is what God does over and over in our lives. It is said that God uses prophets to “afflict the comfortable” because when we are comfortable, we are not growing in the way of Love.

In today’s gospel, we have the beginning of the Nicodemos story. It is clear that his comfortable religion and way of life is being called into question. His story doesn’t end here however. We see him next when Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths, where, having become one of Jesus’ disciples, Nicodemos defends him before the chief priests (Jn.7:50-51). And later we find him helping with the burial of Jesus (Jn.19:38-42)—quite a testament of trust in such a fearful time. Trust enables us to let go of what has been and let God show us the way day by day.