March 21, 2025 Devo

My brother-in-law, who is a pastor, told me of a cool object lesson he did with a group of kids. He had them all come to the front of the church, and he gave each of them a bright, shiny quarter. The kids were delighted. Then he held out his closed hand and said to them, “Who would like to trade their quarter for what I have in my hand?” The children were reluctant. “What’s in it?” they asked. “You’ll have to trust me!” he said with a wink. The kids were all looking at their shiny quarter and then at his closed fist, trying to imagine what he might have in his hand. They didn’t want to budge. Finally, one of them said, “I’ll trade.” When the child handed over his quarter, the pastor opened his hand. There was a crisp, new, $2 bill. Suddenly, ALL the kids wanted to trade! But it was too late. They had missed their chance. What a wonderful, painful lesson about trust.
I’ll bet there are a few of you still holding onto your shiny quarter. God has been asking you to trade what you have for what He has for you, but you’re just not sure. You LIKE what you have. Or, at least, you KNOW what you have. And God, like my brother-in-law, doesn’t always let you know in advance what it is that you’re trading it for. He’s telling you it’s better. He’s telling you that it’s what you need. He’s telling you He has a better way, a better future, or a better SOMETHING. But He’s NOT telling you what that something is! He’s asking you to trust Him.
I’m afraid that many of us are a lot like those kids. We hold tightly onto what we have instead of yielding it over for what God holds in His Hand. We keep staring at our shiny, new quarter like it’s the best thing we’ve ever known. We can’t even begin to imagine that God has something else that is far, far better. I want to encourage you today to take a step of faith. I want to challenge you to let go of what you’re clinging to and hand it over to God. Trade what you KNOW for what God has for you. Trust is sometimes the bridge between what we have and what we’ve only DREAMED of having. And all it takes is a step of faith to cross it. That’s God’s Word for you today.