Got Trust?
I often encourage people to run to Christ, to trust Him in the midst of every circumstance, to leave burdens at His feet, and rest. However, I must transparently admit that I often times have a hard time taking my own advice.
Recently, I have been facing some issues that involve major decisions, and I just don’t feel like God is anywhere to be found. It feels like the more I cry out to God for specific answers, He ignores me and remains silent. I cry out in frustration and ultimately fear raises his ugly head and engulfs me. You see, I just don’t want to make the wrong choices. I know that God has not given us the spirit of fear but of love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). But, what do you do in those times that you can’t shut your mind off and you just can’t control your emotions? What do you do when you are following Proverbs 3:6 by acknowledging God in all that you do, but it seems like he still is not directing your path? What do you do when God is simply on mute and you feel like you are about to lose your mind if He doesn’t show up? I know I’m not the only one who’s been in this place.
A few weeks ago I sat down for quiet time with Christ. I was literally at my wits end when I began to cry and speak to God in a very frustrated and agitated tone. I again asked God for help and direction. I recited the scriptures about God directing my path, speaking to His people, and unveiling His plans for my life. Then I got quiet, and was about to leave my spot thinking that once again God was going to ignore me when I heard this, “Do you trust me?” God and I proceeded to have the following conversation:
Me: “I trust you, haven’t I shown you I trust you?”
God: “If you trusted me completely you wouldn’t worry.”
Me: “God, I trust you. I just worry…(I didn’t speak the following out loud, but in my head I said “I worry that you are going to forget about me. ” BEFORE I COULD SPEAK MY THOUGHT OUTLOUD…
God: “I won’t forget about you!”
I immediately began to cry like a new born baby. Suddenly, I understood what God was doing. He was working trust and faith in me. I had often times said I trusted God, but it was in that moment that I realized that I did not trust God like I professed that I did. I looked up the definition of trust in the NLT Bible, and it defined trust as, “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something: hope. " Another definition was, “to place confidence, or depend; to commit or place in one’s care or keeping; to rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of."
Next, I looked up the definition of faith which is, “reliance, loyalty, or complete trust in God.” I figured out that faith and trust are Siamese twins. You can’t have one without the other. Then, I began researching the Bible for people who walked by faith and who put complete trust in God. There are numerous stories, but my favorite has to be the story of Abraham in Genesis (see also Hebrews 11:17-19).
God promised Abraham that despite his old age, he would be the father of many nations, and that his wife Sarah would have a baby from which Abraham’s descendants would come. Sometime after Sarah gave birth to Isaac, God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to kill Isaac as a sacrifice. Many of us would have been like, “Lord you’re tripping. You want me to kill my son. What about the promise of many descendants through Isaac? Your promise can’t happen if I kill my son.” But, Abraham had such crazy faith in God. Abraham was literally willing to kill his promise because he knew that God would resurrect it again. He knew that if God said something, it was going to happen. He knew that God could not lie and that he could completely trust Him. Whew. This story wrecks me every time I think about the faith that Abraham had in God. This story also helped me realize that God requires us to trust Him completely no matter the circumstance.
If you are in a dry season right now and you feel like you can’t hear or feel God, it’s totally ok. He’s working patience and trust in you. God doesn’t work off anything else other than faith. Faith is like God’s oxygen. He breathes it, and it causes Him to move on our behalf. Remember, that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).If God were to tell us every detail of our lives in the timing that we wanted it, we wouldn’t need Him. We would lean to our own understanding, and never consult Him.
God doesn’t reveal everything to us simply because we just can’t handle it. If you really could handle it in this season, He would give it to you. Remember, God withholds no good thing from those who walk upright before him. (Psalm 84:11).Would you give your new born baby a car? No, because your baby doesn’t understand the purpose of it. He or she simply cannot handle it. God is like that. He knows what we can handle, and he knows the timing that we can handle it in.
As I write this today, I can honestly, non-hypocritically tell you to rest sis. Why? Because I, like you, realize the importance of trust in Christ. There is something that he wants to work in you. He wants to work on your spirit. He wants to work on your heart. He doesn’t want to give you something that you will make an idol out of, or something that causes you to stop worshipping Him. He wants you to trust that His will is perfect. He wants you to know that you cannot live life without Him.
As much as it hurts sometimes to wait, we have to remember that His timing is perfect. There really is beauty in learning to trust the infinite wisdom of God. He created you. He loves you too much to leave you stranded. Hang in there loves. Your trusting in Him will pay off.
Cheers to a Rescued and Trusting Heart,
Chavon Ciara
