Have you ever asked yourself, what does it look like to trust God?
How do we live in this crazy, shifting world and still stand in a place of absolute confidence that God is with us and for us?
It’s easy to say that we love God, but I’m beginning to believe that trust is actually what love looks like, lived out loud.
Our culture waters down and generalizes the term “love” to refer to anything from ice cream to your children, but not so with the term “trust.” While you might still love someone who has deeply hurt you, you may not be able to trust him or her.
Of course, we exercise different levels of trust in various people and institutions—we might trust our auto mechanic with our car, trust our banker with our money, and trust our doctor with our health—but the essential meaning of the term remains the same. To trust someone means to place confidence in him or her to follow through on some expressed commitment.
The greatest challenge to living with absolute assurance in the goodness of God is that we still live on this planet. Check your zip code. If you don’t see “Pearly Gates,” then you’re still down here. You’re still right in the middle of a cosmic war zone. And that means people will wound you, people will fail you, people will let you down.
But not God!
God will never fail you.
Only He is worthy of your complete trust…100 percent confidence.
Honestly, I’m still learning this lesson. After many years of walking with God, insecurity, the enemy of trust, still rears its ugly head. But do you know what takes place inside of me sometimes?
I’m overwhelmed.
I can’t do that!
I don’t think I belong anymore!
Trusting is hard.
One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (ESV)
I love The Message version,
“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.”
Are you struggling to trust God in your circumstances right now? You are not alone! More often than not, for me, trusting means consciously dragging my will into line with the will of God, no matter what I feel. I make a conscious decision to stand on what is true and not on what feels true.
Mark Twain wrote, “Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs one step at a time.”
So that’s my commitment for this year, to walk insecurity out of my life and trust God, one step at a time.