Step 3: Trust God absolutely.
Our nation’s coins proclaim “In God We Trust”. We got that motto from the Bible and the final stanza of our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner. “And this be our motto ‘In God is our Trust.'”
As Christians, we also proclaim that we trust God. But how many of us really do? Especially American Christians.
Do we trust God or our jobs?
Do we trust money or our Provider?
Do we trust our bank account or our Father in Heaven?
Do we trust our intellect and reason or His will for our lives?
Okay, let’s say we do trust God.
If we do trust God, how much do we trust Him?
Do we trust Him when everything seems to fall apart or it looks like it’s about to?
From my observation, the answer is “No” for most people, even most Christians.
But our Father wants us to trust Him in the same way we, as earthly parents, want our children to trust us.
Faith and trust are synonymous. The definition of “Faith” from Merriam-Webster.com: (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
God gives us examples of the kind of faith He’s looking for in His Word.
David Wilkerson said in his devotional from June 3, 2011:
“Being not weak in faith, (Abraham) considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb” (Romans 4:19).
The essence of true faith is found in this single verse. God had just promised Abraham he would have a son, one who would become the seed of many nations. Remarkably, Abraham didn’t flinch at this promise, even though he was well past the age of siring children. Instead, when Abraham received this word from the Lord, we’re told he “considered not his own body now dead (nor)…the deadness of Sarah’s womb.”
To the natural mind, it was impossible for this promise to be fulfilled. But Abraham didn’t dwell on any such impossibility. According to Paul, the patriarch gave no thought to how God would keep his promise. He didn’t reason with God, “But, Lord, I have no seed to plant. And Sarah has no life in her womb to conceive. My wife is past the ability to bear children. So, how will you do it, Lord?” Instead of entertaining such questions, Abraham simply “considered not.”
The fact is, when God is at work producing a faith that is tried and better than gold, he first puts a sentence of death on all human resources. He closes the door to all human reasoning, bypassing every means of a rational deliverance.
The faith that pleases God is born in a place of deadness. I’m speaking here of the deadness of all human possibilities. It is a place where man-made plans flourish at first and then die. It is a place where human hopes bring temporary relief but soon crash, adding to a sense of helplessness.
Have you been at this place of deadness? Has it seemed you have no options left? You can’t call someone to advise you. The heavens are like brass when you pray, your requests falling to the ground.I declare to you, this is God at work. His Spirit is working to get you to stop considering the impossibilities—to stop looking to human ways and means—to stop trying to think your way out of your situation. The Holy Ghost is urging you, “Quit hunting for help from some man. And quit focusing on how hopeless you think your situation is. Those are hindrances to your faith.”
The Lord worked through many circumstances and trials over a period of 10 years or so in my life to establish my trust in Him.
I had to learn to take my eyes off of the circumstances and only look at His word. No matter what was happening or what was being threatened, I had to rely on God to take care of us. No matter how devastating a situation seemed, I had to keep believing that God was working everything out for our best. When we lost our house after believing God to keep it for us, I could have gotten angry at God (or at my husband), but I chose to keep believing that it was part of God’s plan, and that He was going to use it for His purposes, and that it would end up being for our good. And it did!
God taught us so many things. He changed us through the situations that we went through. He gave us a whole new perspective and foundation for our beliefs and values.
We now know what it’s like to be homeless, hopeless, helpless, uncertain about what tomorrow will bring, cast out and rejected, unable to take care of ourselves, unable to make decisions because we didn’t have anything to do anything with. We experienced God’s care and provision in supernatural ways. When we were in a strange place where we knew not a soul, the Lord provided money and food and lodging for us. When there was no way we could survive, He provided abundance for us.
Our help came from the Lord! He preserved us and sustained us when nobody else could or would.
So believe me, I TRUST HIM! He never let us down. We clung to His Word.
Psalm 37:25 I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken or His seed begging for bread.
Psalm 121:2 My help comes from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth.
Psalm 27:10
When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.
Psalm 27:13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Psalm 18:19 He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.
Many, many Psalms were my lifeline. And many verses from Isaiah. Such as:
Isaiah 54:11-13 O you afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.
I didn’t understand what that meant, but it comforted me and let me know that God was doing something beautiful in my life and I just needed to wait on Him and trust Him and He would make all things new and good – better than ever.
Isaiah 30:20, 21 And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.
There were many others. Every time I opened my Bible during the heat of the battle, a verse would pop out and comfort, encourage and strengthen me to keep trusting Him.
He is still fashioning and forming us into what He wants us to be. But He has added so much more beauty to our lives. And He has cultivated in us an appreciation of who He is and how real He is and the greatness of His power and love.
So now, my personal motto is “Trust God – Absolutely!”
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
