Trust in God

  1. INTRODUCTION

    1. Who do you trust? Chances are that your list of trustworthy people is rather short.

    2. 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.

       

  2. COMPLETE TRUST IN GOD

    1. We place only limited trust in things of this world, but God demands that we give Him our complete trust.

      1. 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.

      2. 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.

      3. 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.

      4. 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.

        1. 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).

        2. 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.

        3. 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).

        4. 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).

        5. 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.

        6. 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.

      5. 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.

        1. 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.

        2. 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.

        3. 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).

        4. 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.

    2. If we know the truth about God, then complete trust in Him is easy.

      1. 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.

      2. We are already dependent upon God for everything, so His trustworthiness has been demonstrated to us more times than we can count.

        1. 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).

        2. How can we not trust the One who feeds us, clothes us, and shelters us every day?

      3. 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).

      4. 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).

    3. Jesus is our example of complete trust in God.

      1. 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.

      2. 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.

         

  3. WHEN YOU COMPLETELY TRUST IN GOD

    1. 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.

      1. 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."

      2. 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?

    2. When you have complete trust in God, you will find comfort in situations that are beyond your control.

      1. 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...

      2. 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?

    3. When you have complete trust in God, you will find strength to do what is right.

      1. 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.

      2. 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?

    4. When you have complete trust in God, that trust guides you every day and not only in the hard times.

      1. 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.

      2. 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).

         

  4. CONCLUSION

    1. 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.

    2. If you have not fully entrusted your life to God, then commit yourself to Him today by obeying the gospel.