Who do you trust?Chances are that your list of trustworthy people is rather short.
Regardless of whether you trust your fellow man, you
can and must trust in God at all times.Presently, let us consider what it means to trust God completely and how
complete trust in God affects our lives.
COMPLETE TRUST IN GOD
We place only limited trust in things of this world,
but God demands that we give Him our complete trust.
Few things in the
world are dependable enough to merit very much trust.In fact, repeated disappointments can lead us
to become distrustful of almost everyone and everything.
However, God is
completely trustworthy and will never disappoint us when we have faith
according to His word.We should never
allow our disappointments in the world to affect our trust in God.
To this point,
consider Proverbs 3:5-6:
5Trust in
the Lord with all your heart and
do not lean on your own understanding.6In
all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
The practical
meaning of verse 5 is a choice between two contrasting alternatives: you can
either trust in God, or you can lean on your own understanding.You cannot do both.
To lean on your own understanding is to depend on your
own senses, intellect, and experience for all knowledge and judgment.This distrustful and faithless attitude will
leave you in the darkness of your own limitations, for it is not in you to
direct your own steps (Jer. 10:23).
Rather than leaning on your own understanding, you should
trust God to give you direction.Indeed,
trusting in God is a matter of relying upon His word for knowledge.
When you rely
upon God's word for understanding, you obtain faith, for "faith comes from
hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17).
Trust is a
component of the faith you have in God.Faith
is defined as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not
seen" (Heb. 11:1).With this assurance
and conviction, you must trust that God will deliver the things you hope for
and the things you cannot see.Trust
that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6).
You must trust
the word of God above your own eyes, "for we walk by faith, not by sight"
(2Cor. 5:7).You must not lean on your
own perception to guide your steps.
Trust in God is founded
on His word.It does not set up false
expectations for things that are not promised in His word.Therefore, true trust in God will never be
disappointed.
The practical
meaning of verse 6 is a conditional promise: He will make your paths straight if
you trust Him enough to acknowledge Him in every way.
To acknowledge God in all your ways is to follow His
counsel in every action you take.This
means that the way you choose is itself an expression of obedience to God's
will.
A straight path is an easier way to travel than a
crooked path.This fact is used
figuratively to indicate that God will generally make life easier for those who
trust Him to follow His guidance.
Contrary to this,
those who do not trust God and travel on a path of their own choosing will
encounter self-inflicted hardships.The
contrast between the straight path of those who trust God and the hard road of
sinners is described in many of the Proverbs (3:33; 10:3, 24, 25; 11:21, 27;
14:22; 17:13; 19:29; 21:16; 22:8).
Notice that this is a rule, but there are
exceptions.God's word warns us that "all
who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2Tim. 3:12).Although persecution is a hard path to walk,
God's word sets our expectations for this and teaches to trust God even under
such hardship.
If we know the truth about God, then complete trust in
Him is easy.
Among the
attributes of God are omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence as well as
perfect love, justice, mercy, righteousness, and holiness.He is certainly worthy of our complete trust.
We are already
dependent upon God for everything, so His trustworthiness has been demonstrated
to us more times than we can count.
Scripture says that "in Him we live and move and
exist" (Acts 17:28).Indeed, "every good
thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father
of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow" (Jas. 1:17).
How can we not
trust the One who feeds us, clothes us, and shelters us every day?
God's record is
flawless so that we have no reason not to trust Him.He has never failed us or forgotten us, and
He says, "I will not forget you" (Isa. 49:15).
If we trust God,
then our prospects for the future are bright, for He has promised, "I will
never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you" (Heb. 13:5).
Jesus is our example of complete trust in God.
Consider 1Peter
2:21-24:
21For you
have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving
you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22who committed no
sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23and while being
reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats,
but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24and He
Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and
live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Rather than
pleading His case, defending Himself, or fighting against the injustice, Jesus
trusted His Father to judge righteously.He trusted His Father even to the point of death, and so can we.
WHEN YOU COMPLETELY TRUST IN GOD
When you have complete trust in God, you will trust
Him even if you do not have a guarantee that you will receive a favorable
outcome in the short term.
Consider
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who trusted God to defy the king even at the
peril of their lives.Notice Daniel
3:16-18:
16Shadrach,
Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to
give you an answer concerning this matter.17If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us
from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O
king.18But even if He does
not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods
or worship the golden image that you have set up."
You may be faced
with a situation in which loyalty to God can lead to temporal hardship.Will you trust God enough to lose your
employment, possessions, liberty, or even life?
When you have complete trust in God, you will find
comfort in situations that are beyond your control.
Consider Paul's
predicament in 2Corinthians 1:8-9:
8For we do
not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in
Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we
despaired even of life; 9indeed, we had the sentence of death within
ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the
dead...
You may find
yourself is a place (an accident scene, a hospital, a courtroom, etc.) where
you have no power over the outcome.Will
you trust God in that moment to ultimately make it right?
When you have complete trust in God, you will find
strength to do what is right.
Doing right is
often unrewarding and sometimes punishing in this world.Consider 1Peter 4:19:
Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will
of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
You may have to
choose between suffering for doing right and benefiting for doing wrong.Will you trust God enough to suffer for what
is right in the short term while anticipating His reward in eternity?
When you have complete trust in God, that trust guides
you every day and not only in the hard times.
Genuine trust in
God is demonstrated not only in those desperate times but also during the
ordinary days of your life.Trust in Him
affects both the big decisions and the little ones.
Every day in
every decision, you must trust God to do His will."In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He
will make your paths straight" (Prov. 3:6).
CONCLUSION
It is a great comfort to know that you have a God you
can always trust with your life.Even
when you cannot understand the world around you, you can always trust in God
with all your heart.
If you have not fully entrusted your life to God, then
commit yourself to Him today by obeying the gospel.
