Trusting God

SIMPLY TRUSTING

Every child of God knows that we honor our God when we trust him. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart is the desire of every healthy Christian. It sounds so simple. And yet we are challenged day by day with simply trusting.

When all is going well we can speak confidently of our trust in the living God. We quote Scripture, sing songs, and exhort others to trust in the LORD. But what do we mean when say we trust the LORD?

We believe Him. He is worthy of our confidence and so we believe what He says. We believe Him enough to live according to His revealed will.

We believe Him at all times. That is, we believe Him enough to do His will at all times no matter how we feel or the outcome of our obedience. We really do believe that He is right, that His will is best and that He will take care of us. If we do not see the desired result from our obedience, we continue to obey. After all, we trust Him!

We believe Him even when our way is dark, dreary, difficult and uncertain. We trust Him. We know His Word is true just like Himself, and therefore simply trust that His way is right no matter how we might perceive the outcome will be.

Are you simply trusting? It is possible to think you are trusting and yet your experience proves otherwise. If you are really trusting Him you will follow Him. You will not follow your own inclinations. You will not be satisfied simply with comfortable results from your own decisions. You will follow Him regardless of the results, simply trusting that He is worthy of full devotion and that His way is right.

Simply trusting is not always comfortable to our flesh, but perfect peace is promised to those who simply trust (Is. 26:3).

TRUSTING GOD IN ALL OF LIFE

A fundamental doctrinal truth for every believer in the true and living God is that He is absolutely sovereign. We believe that God is God.

·         Nebuchadnezzar came to understand this: Daniel 4:34,35.

·         Isaiah clearly taught this perspective of truth concerning God: Isaiah 46:9-11.

·         The Psalmist answered his critics very clearly in Ps 115:4, But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

·         James’ instruction to say if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that was deduced from his understanding of God’s sovereign rule in His universe.

Not only is God sovereign, He is the only wise God (1 Tim. 1:17), righteous in all his ways (Ps. 145:17), and intends only that which is to His own glory and the good of His people (Rom. 8:28).

It is this basic understanding of who God is that makes the exhortations of God to His people to trust in Him the most reasonable response to all of life. Because of who He is, and because we believe that He is, we can unreservedly trust Him in every situation and do exactly as He has commanded us with the confidence that His will is best.

Anxiety is all too often the believer’s response to difficulties in life:

·         Anxiety is the sinful response to life and life’s responsibilities. In anxiety we turn to self instead of turning to God. Anxiety is fear without faith. It is vigilance run amok. We scan the horizon constantly, fearfully, but without ever taking action or responsibility and without clinging to God. Bob Kellemen (http://www.rpmministries.org/2015/11/anxiety-stuck-vigilance/)

·         Anxiety is response to life without a sense of confidence in God.

§  The intensity of a situation, the overwhelming difficulty of a relationship, and the crippling fearfulness of the awareness of inadequacy all lead self-focused ones to anxiety.

§  Anxiety then leads to sinful choices: some kind of isolation, avoidance, withdrawal, inactivity; OR anger, manipulation, domination, incessant talk/evaluation, etc..  God is ignored – no soul-quietness.

Clarify:

·         Trusting God does not mean indifference or care-less spirit to life or life’s responsibilities.

·         Trusting God does not mean shirking responsibility and simply letting come what may.

·         Feelings of concern associated with personal pain, financial struggles, or relational strains are not necessarily sinful. Godly vigilance demands that we guard, care, give, love, respond, etc..

Trusting God must be the believer’s default response to life:

Trusting God is the heart/inner posture of one who takes God at His word and constantly sees in the cross of Jesus Christ God’s commitment to his salvation and care.  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

·         One trusting God is able to believe the promise of God even though the promise seems impossible or out of reach: Heb. 11:13.

·        One trusting God is able to keep believing and responding in obedience, even when there is darkness and confusion: Isaiah 50:10 (don’t need to understand everything to be submissive.)

·         One trusting is able to release from his spirit the burden of control (trying to make something happen) and simply focus upon fulfilling his responsibility in life by the aid of the Holy Spirit.

·         One trusting is able to entrust to God, with confidence and thanksgiving, every outcome of life and ministry as he seeks to do His will revealed to him through His Word.

We say to others by our attitudes, words and actions that God is either trustworthy, or He is not!

God is glorified as our lives manifest that we trust Him. What is your life saying to those who know you?

Help for Hopelessness

I have noticed that the top downloaded sermon from the messages that I have preached and loaded on to Sermon-audio is one regarding hope. There may be more than one way to interpret that little piece of data, but it directs my mind to conclude hope is one of the great needs of our day.

Hopelessness is an awful feeling. It can come for various reasons. It can be as brief as a passing sense at the thought of an enormous task facing you, or  the dark abyss into which one tumbles who has entered a season of depression. A season of depression also has numerous causes, from hormonal or medical roots to a devastating personal or family loss. The sense of guilt over one's sinful choices, or the sense that one is too great a sinner to ever be accepted by God can cause a sense of hopelessness. 

When hopelessness is the result of something other than a medical root, the solution must always be sought through means other than medication.  Hope is a by-product of faith, which is able to latch on to the possibility of that which seems impossible. When faith grips truth, hope will be kindled and increase until one is once again living with a positive sense that there is a way out!

Hopelessness will be exaggerated in one who places his faith in speculation rather than truth. Once speculation has been uncovered as a deception, or a lie, faith is weakened and hope fades. But when truth is the object of faith, then come what may, hope is kept alive and despair or depression is kept away.

Thy word is truth are words spoken by Jesus. He is the One who also said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The word is the revelation of Jesus Christ. If you are listening to Him, you are listening to truth. Faith in Jesus Christ is faith in the truth. He is an anchor to the soul of every one who believes in Him. 

Despair and depression, kinfolk to hopelessness, are best dealt with by looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Listening to Him as the wonderful counselor we hear, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus Christ gives hope to the struggling soul. 

Are you struggling with hopelessness? Jesus says, come unto me! Ignore the voices of detractors and naysayers who prefer to create questions and stumbling-blocks, and keep you in a place of hopelessness. Don't let doubts and questions lead you away from Him who is the truth. Hope will increase as your confidence in Jesus increases. 

I know! I've been in the dark place of doubt, where nothing seems right and all is confusing-a place of hopelessness! Hope is found in the God of hope. Trust in Him and hope is sure to increase. With the increase of hope there will be increase of peace and joy! 

If you are going through a dark night of the soul, keep looking unto Jesus. You can't see Him? Keep looking! This is the way of faith. You will see Him clearest at the cross! Run to the gospel and hope will return and grow. Don't stop looking. Endure to the end! We are saved by hope!