In God We Trust?

Today, I would like to explore the idea of trusting God. It is an important concept. So much so, that as a nation, we adopted a motto to recognize the fact that we trust in God. Of course lately, we see many people who detest that concept and want to see the motto removed from our buildings, our cash, our books and from our consciousness. Have you ever wondered why there is such a backlash against this simple acknowledgement of corporate trust in our Creator? Most importantly though, as a Christian, we must ask ourselves, do we really trust God with our lives? If not, why not? God tells us many times in His word to put our trust in Him. He must have a good reason for that, don't you think? Let's find out.

Wouldn't it be nice to know that every time in your life, you had to make a decision on which direction to go, you could make the right choice? You know, kind of like having a GPS nav system for life. Guess what, you can! You might not hear an audible voice saying "at the next stop, turn right", but you can receive all the guidance necessary to go in the right direction. OK, you're probably saying to yourself, there is no way to always know the right way to go! If there was, then I would always choose it. Well, let's look at what the Bible says about it.

Pr 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." If you look closely, you will see that this verse has one promise and three requirements.

First, let's look at what the promise in this verse is. It says that He will make our paths straight. In the King James Version it says that He will direct your paths. The idea here is that when God directs you, you will go in the correct direction. The Hebrew word for trust in the verse is interesting. According to Strong's it has the proper meaning, "to hide for refuge". A closely related word actually means "a place of refuge". Figuratively the word means to be confident or sure. The object of our trust in the verse is the Lord, so let's put this together. The verse begins with the idea that we can confidently take refuge in following the Lord's direction. Let's illustrate. If you were out walking and suddenly a storm began, you might seek refuge or shelter from the storm, right? What would you be hoping that shelter would provide? I would think that protection from the elements of the storm would be the priority. You would want to know that the place you have chosen really can provide safety and protection. God is showing us that there is great safety in trusting Him to guide us.

The first requirement is that we trust with "all our heart". The word heart here signifies our emotions, our will and our intellect. The word all
means
all, every part, the whole thing! You see, God does not want a half hearted trust in Him. He wants every part of who and what we are, to trust Him. Sometimes we find that very difficult to do. We want to put our trust in Him, but often times our emotions, our will or our intellect gets in the way. God knows that and I think that is why He put in the second requirement, "Lean not on your own understanding". Some people think that means put your brain and reasoning on mute. I don't believe that is the case at all. God gave us an ability to think and reason that is unique among His creation. He certainly expects us to use it, but we must realize how limited our knowledge is in comparison to His. Isn't it only reasonable to trust the one who already knows what will happen, the one who has all the information? Makes sense to me!

The third requirement is to" acknowledge Him in all our ways". This involves the aspect of our will. We have the free will to follow His leading or not. Sometimes, even though we know which way God is leading us, we still want to go our own way. I can tell you that every time I have made a decision based on my will instead of God's will, it turns out not to be in my best interest. The key is to get our will aligned with His. That is acknowledging Him in all our ways. Ps 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart". This is when you can know that you are aligning your will with His. You will want to go the same direction He wants you to.

Maybe, you are afraid of trusting God to direct you because you aren't sure of where you will end up. Well, look at what the Lord said to the children of Israel when they were in captivity, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". (Jer 29:11) If we have trusted God for our salvation, how could we not trust Him for every need of our life? Jesus said in John 14:1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me…" If you have not yet trusted Jesus for your salvation, I pray that you would do that today. If there is one thing that I have learned in my 46 years as a Christian, it is this: You can trust God!

Game Plan: The best way to learn that you can trust the Lord in every way is to spend time with Him in prayer and study of His word. The better you get to know Him, the easier it is to see and hear His leading and trust Him. Every time you follow His leading, it increases your faith and ability to do it again.

Read about the life of Abraham in Gen 12-25. Abraham was a man who trusted God.

Ask God in prayer to give you the ability to trust Him with all of your life.

 

May God bless you as you continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of His will,

Coach