Dayspring How to Trust in God
How to Trust in God
I’ve heard that it was an athiest……..we should probably refer to him as a practical atheist …(living as if there is no God)…Perhaps it’s just best to say it was a man was hiking in the mountains. So taken with the scenery he didn’t notice he was about to walk off a cliff……As he was falling he was able to grab a branch that was protruding out of the side of the mountain….In desperation, he cried out….”God if you are up there can you help me!?”
A voice from heaven declares “Trust me, and let go of the branch”…….
The man paused, thought and then said “Is there anyone else out there”…..The story is fictitious but the sentiment is not…..
It’s difficult to trust in something you cannot see…
Trust is getting tricky.
In our society, we are discovering with the dawn of every day how hard it is to trust. Pick an area of life and you will find trust, or the lack of it, as the issue that affects all decisions.
There are relationships….where trust is either affirmed or neglected.
There are governments….that spend billions of $$ convincing us that they can be trusted
There are institutions….financial, educational, and health…..that want us to trust their experience, expertise, and resources…….
And then you come to church…..and we tell you to Trust God……Thankfully God has given us His word that tells the truth about Him. And in Proverbs 3 we are going to look at a set of verses that tell us not why….but HOW
To trust.
In God.
Prov 3:5-7
5Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
NIV
1. Trusting God is a heart commitment.
5Trust in the LORD with all your heart
St. Augustine said “our hearts are restless til they find their rest in Thee”
Trust is an emotional commitment where we look, listen, hear and feel that there is a God out there that is bigger than our problem, larger than our solution and wider than our frame.
People begin to trust when they since an opportunity or a solution to the problem they are facing. When hope is gone, you have no evidence as to what you should do, you take charge of your feelings and sense that you will commit your emotions to the one who gave you those emotions.
Psalm 84:12 (NIV)
12 O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.
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2. Trusting God is a Decision
An act of the will
and lean not on your own understanding;
Once the dust settles and the circumstances continue on, it often becomes obvious that nothing changes after the emotional commitment. The songs have been sung, the prayers prayed, and now its time to get on with the task of life.
Philippians says the Peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus:
Our hearts AND our minds. Our heart is the seat of our emotions. Where our loyalties and our commitments lie. Our minds of course is what represents our ability to reason. To think clearly. In times of difficulty the heart and the mind are subject to attack. On one hand we have the feelings trying to interpret the events around us, on the other the mind is coming up with plausible reasons as to what is really going on. The heart feels, and the mind tries to make sense of the feeling.
You may have heard the term: Virtual reality. Random House defines virtual as “being such in force or effect, but not exactly such” So, virtual is reality is a reality that looks and feels real but in essence is not real.
We have to make the decision to not lean on our own understanding. It infers a time of rest after an emotional commitment has been made. “I will trust in the Lord” “Though none go with me, still I will follow”, Now the dust has settled. We decide that when it involves trusting God, our capacity to understand or describe the activity of God must be avoided. We cannot understand what God is doing, we have to trust him, we can’t rely on our own interpretation of the events around us. In our world we are rewarded for leaning on our understanding, we depend on the collective results of news, technology, experience, knowledge and training as the bedrock of interpreting events around us.
But when it comes to trusting in God we have to make a conscious decision to not pull up that directory. The understanding and experience is there, but we don’t lean on it. LEAN NOT, that is to say DO NOT LEAN. We shouldn’t let our education our expertise or our experience be the final rubrick upon which our trust is based.
Scripture asks the question:
Who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should be His counselor?
3. Trusting God involves paying attention to His presence.
6in all your ways ………….
This scripture talks about us. Our ways, our coming and our going, whether we wake or sleep, We are all different, but God knows our ways.
Ps 139:7-8
7Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
NIV
acknowledge Him,
Heb 12:2-3
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
NIV
Ps 118:8-9
8It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
9It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
NIV
Nahum 1:7 (NIV)
7 The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,
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In His Presence there is fullness of joy at His right hand, pleasures forevermore. Oh what fellowship Divine! I am His and He is mine.
4. Trusting God means letting Him do His work
and he will make your paths straight.
The other portions of these verses require the activity to begin with us, but there comes a point where we stop. We make the emotional commitment, We make that internal decision, We look for the presence of God, but finally, we let Him do the work. We stand still and see the salvation of God.
Ps 56:3-4
3When I am afraid,
I will trust in you.
4In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
NIV
Ps 125:1
Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever. NIV
But what about the long term trust as the days go on?. We are told we are in a war that will last for years. How long do we trust. The OT prophets trusted in a salvation that would be revealed long after they had died. In fact we experience the joy unspeakable and full of glory right now because of culminating trust that they had for over 1000 years, as Hebrews declares: These all died not having received anything so that they without us would not be made perfect.
But I am so glad that there is coming a day when all the vials of trust will be poured out. There will be resolution, there will be an end, The Lord of Glory intends to MAKE THE PATH STRAIGHT.
Come with me to a synagogue in the hometown of Jesus, its his day to read. He steps to the podium and begins to read from Isaiah
Luke 4:18-19
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
NIV
HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATH STRAIGHT
Jesus pointed to
John 14:1-3
14:1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
NIV
Sing the Wondrous Love of Jesu
Sing His mercy and His grace
In the mansions bright and blessed
He’ll prepare for us a place
When we all get to heaven
What a day of rejoicing that will be
When we all see Jesus
We’ll sing and shout the victory.