Concordia Magazine

Trusting in Big Promises

By Bruce Houglum '68

This year, as I teach in my last year at Concordia, people often ask: "What will you do after you leave Concordia? What are your plans?"

My answer is always the same: "I don’t know." I suppose that might be a fairly common answer among those contemplating retirement from something that has occupied them for so long.

Many people have told me, "You have to have a plan. You have to know ahead of time what is going to keep you from going crazy with all of the extra time and change in responsibility." Indeed, even my medical doctor has been adamant. He says: "Get it all planned out. I see too many people with mental and physical problems sitting alone when their careers are over."

I can see their point. While I am looking forward to being done with work, I have truly enjoyed my time at Concordia. Many times I have collected my check at the end of the month and thought, "What? I get paid for this too?"

I easily remember the wonderful students, even from many years ago. Many of them I still hear from regularly and count as friends and colleagues. My colleagues in the music department and across the campus – the best! And the opportunity to prepare and perform the masterpieces of musical literature at such a high level – to communicate with the masters on a daily basis, I suppose you could say. So I can understand where everyone is coming from.

However, I am not worried in the least. Psalm 37 says: "Trust in the Lord and do good, so shall you dwell in the land and you shall be fed. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way unto the Lord, trust in Him and He shall bring it to pass. Those that wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth."

I have tried to live by those verses for many years, and it has made all the difference. The verses contain key words, commands, if you will: Trust in the Lord. Delight yourself in the Lord. Commit your way to the Lord. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently. Don’t fret or be angry. Wait upon the Lord.

But you see, each of those commands comes with a promise: Trust in the Lord, and you shall dwell in the land and be fed (always a good thing when contemplating retirement). Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart (my goodness!). Commit your way, and trust, and He will bring it to pass. Those that rest in the Lord and wait patiently shall inherit the earth.

Pretty big promises for such simple commands.

Many years ago when Dr. J. Robert Hanson retired as conductor of The Concordia Orchestra, several people (including myself) encouraged me to apply for the position. These verses from Psalm 37 were going to be put to another test. It became clear rather quickly that applying was not something for me to do.

I should mention at this point that, over time, I noticed that when I committed, trusted, rested in the Lord and listened (waited) really hard, I began to discern subtle but definite signals that I firmly believe are from God. So when I determined that the answer was "no," I have to admit that I was disappointed. But I tried not to fret, and I rested and did the best I could to delight in what I thought to be a rather curious decision.

It turned out that that first search to replace Bob Hanson ended up a failed search, and the department, in a tough spot for the coming year, asked me to take a one-year appointment while the search continued. So it was back to committing, trusting, waiting and delighting. I accepted the appointment, and, when the second search started, I went through a similar process of discernment. This time the answer was "yes," and I ended up being the successful candidate.

I don’t know why the answer to my prayer asking to apply was “no” in the first place. In hindsight, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have been the successful candidate in the first search.
I refer to this circumstance only to illustrate why I am reluctant to answer the questions of colleagues, friends and my physician. You see, I am still committing, trusting, waiting (now after many go-arounds with Psalm 37 through all these years) – waiting in delight about what will be next. I believe the promises!

Right now, I only know that now is the time to retire. And that is remarkable in itself. I have found in all of the dealings I have had with the Lord, that he is never late with his advice, but he is never early either. The Lord God is a good God, a faithful God who keeps his promises, a benevolent God whom I firmly believe has only our best in mind. All he asks of us is to commit, trust, wait, listen, delight, don’t fret or be angry. In return, he will give us the desires of our heart.

Houglum is conductor of The Concordia Orchestra. This essay was adapted from a chapel talk delivered on Jan. 12, 2011.

Photo: Sheldon Green

Listen to Bruce Houglum, conductor of The Concordia Orchestra, speak at chapel.

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