Word of Life

Trusting God.

 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

Relationships are built on TRUST! Where would a marriages or relationships be without trust? Both the husband and the wife must be faithful to each other. Trust and faithfulness gives relationships stability. It helps the love between the parties to grow. Relationships are built on TRUST not RULES! Without trust there can be no reconciliation between individuals. God knows no corporation boundaries. He knows His people by their having His spirit. Jesus Christ is our saviour and the head of the Church. We must have faith in Jesus and trust Him that He is guiding the Church, are the people with God’s Holy Spirit. We have to put our TRUST in God and in Jesus Christ.

The Bible says this “He who trusts in himself is a fool. . .” (Proverbs 28:26). Still, most of us have difficulty trusting God at least at one point or another in our walk with Him. There are probably many reasons why trusting is difficult. At times, God’s ways don’t always make sense to us. God told Noah to build an ark. It may have never rained up to this point and the nearest body of water was probably so far away. It could not have made much sense to Noah at all (Genesis 6-8). We want life to make sense as well as we always want to set our own terms and timetables. God works on a different timetable than our minds comprehend. God promised Abraham a son from his own body through his wife Sarah. It took 24 years before this promise was fulfilled in the manner in which God had promised. In the meantime, Abraham and Sarah had difficulty trusting God and tried their own methods to fulfill the promise and in their quest to help God fulfill his promise, Ishmael was born. We want what we want and we want it . . . now! It is difficult to trust in a plan that requires us to surrender all control of the time for completion. 

Remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They would not bow down to the image that Nebuchadnezzar made even if punished with death in the fiery furnace. They had to make a stand and obey God even to the death. They had no guarantee that God would deliver them from the fiery furnace nut Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego put their trust in God. Daniel 3:28 says: “Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!” We must put our trust and confidence in God. He is our fortress, banner and our high tower. We must put God first in our lives.

A synonym for trust is faith and the Bible says in: Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:6 says: “Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Trust is a two way street. We must trust God and God must be able to trust us. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God is faithful and will not change. Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter and lists many who placed their trust and faith in God. We can trust God, but can God trust us? 

In order to trust in God, you must totally surrender your will, your ideas, your desires, and your future in to God’s hands. Many of us are “control freaks.” We don’t want to give the control of any part of our lives over to another person. If you don’t believe that God loves you fully and really does have your best interests at heart and desires the very best for you, trusting Him is going to be extremely difficult. It takes a very special relationship to allow that measure of surrender. Most of us have a tendency to claim trust in God. However, at the first sign of any difficulty or trial, we think that God does not love us because He is allowing these difficulties to happen or come our way. The trials may be what God is using to test the level of trust that we have in Him. In spite of the trials, we always have God’s promise that the trials and tests that we go through are for our good (Romans 8:28, Hebrews 12:2, 2 Corinthians 4:17, James 1:2). We learn that it is through trust that our relationship with God strengthens and our love for Him grows. 

We can trust in many things. None, however, offer the protection plan, the long term security, or the benefits that trusting in God offers. All of the other things in which we place our trust can fail. God never fails! David says, “… Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you…” (1 Chronicles 28:20). David had a testimony of who God was and he had seen His faithfulness. David had trusted God in so many occasions and God had not failed him even a single day and that’s why he was advising and encouraging his son Solomon to be courageous and trust in the Lord just as he did. David continues to say: “Trust in him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” Psalm 62:8. 

In 2 Corinthians 9:8; we’re told, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” Reading this carefully, we learn that God is able to make all things right. No matter how hopeless or futile a situation may be. If we understand this scripture, we get that God is able to take even the worst details of the worst situation and turn it into abounding grace. Why are we struggling with our pitiful attempts that continue to fail us when God is so fully capable of handling it so that we can “abound in every good work?” The answer to that is because we are not ready and again we are cherry picking our trust in God.

Philippians 4:6, we read “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” While we lie awake, unable to sleep because of our worry and distress, God is waiting for our request. He is waiting for our prayer and petition so that He can be God and we can get some sleep. Logically, we are trying to solve issues that we simply do not have the skills nor the wisdom to solve. Enter, God. He knows what we want, what we need and the difference between the two. In Isaiah 41:13, He says, “For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Note that He offers His help. That help can come in many forms. How often have you gone through trials only to look back some time later and realize that you would never have believed things would work out that way? Maybe one of the reasons we have a hard time giving it up to God is because we will have to live in His answer instead of just having an answer given to us. That does take great trust. But God is worthy of great trust.

When we go to God initially, we are prepared to act when He makes a way for us. We are prepared to make changes when He leads us in the right direction. In Psalm 32:7, we read “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” When we give our worries to God, we are protected, we are soothed with deliverance, and we have given Him back the power that we rob Him of when we stubbornly hang on to problems we will never be able to control on our own. At times, we can be afraid to let go. When we let go, we are giving up control. Most people don’t like feeling a loss of control. But the truth is; we are not really in control at all; otherwise, we would not be struggling and worrying without progress. Isn’t it wonderful to know that God is waiting for us to let Him bring us peace? As God said in Jeremiah 32:27 “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Let’s learn to entrust unto him all that bugs us. Let go and let God and you will see the difference. He says in Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.” Seeking him with all our hearts means that we have released everything that might hinder us. May God help us to trust Him this year.

Amen!!

January 15th, 2010 - Posted by Mutuma, Dennis | Daily Inspirations, Drawing Closer to God - The Series!!