Absolute Trust

Mungo Park was ready to give up. Only 25 years old, this Scottish doctor was traveling alone in “a vast wilderness” in western Africa. His original goal had been to find the mysterious city of Timbuktu. He failed to find this city, but his journey brought him deep into Africa’s forbidding interior.

In August 1796, in this hostile environment, he was robbed by bandits. Although eventually freed, his situation still seemed hopeless. As he later described, he looked around “with amazement and terror.” He was “500 miles from the nearest European settlement.” He felt that he “had no alternative, but to lie down and perish.”

At this desperate time, his thoughts turned toward prayer. He suddenly focused on a tiny piece of flowering moss. As he later wrote, he “could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves, and capsula, without admiration.”

He realized that God cared for this plant even in “this obscure part of the world.” That if He “planted, watered, and brought to perfection” this small plant, Park certainly could trust God with his own life. He renewed his journey and soon reached civilization.

Park experienced the kind of trust Jesus spoke about when He taught His disciples why they needed to trust God for everything, never worry, and realize that He cares for them.

Today, remember that you can trust God in every situation. Great and small.