The Value of Trust

Trust in Self

Acts 5:1–11 NIV

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

We operate in a egocentric worldview. We are the center of our universe and we bend everything and everyone else to accomplish our goals and desires. Reality is that we exist in a theocentric universe where God is at the center and everything bends to the will of the Lord to accomplish His good works and plan.

Trust in the Lord

As we spoke about last week, since the beginning, the issue or conflict in the world has not been between good and evil or the Lord and the Devil, rather it has been between God and everything else. Sadly, the gift of free will to His creation has resulted in a creation that desires to be God or at the very least to replace Him with something that we can construct or control. But the Lord has not abandoned His creation in their rebellion nor has He chosen to destroy His creation, which He has the right to do being the Creator. Instead the Lord has delayed His judgment and offered man the means by which to place their trust in Him over their trust in themselves. God has drawn intimately near to His creation. With each progressive step closer to His creation, the Lord has provided both evidence to encourage and support our dependence and trust in Him (miracles, provision, structure, victory) and evidence to discourage rebellion and trust in self (hardship, infirmity, giving us what we ask, death).

Achan and the gold (Joshua 7)

Here, the Lord provided the promise of eternal life and the Promised Land of eternity with Him. Ananias and Sapphira chose instead to trust in themselves and not in the Lord. Their sin was not that they did not give all that they had but rather that they did not trust in Lord enough to trust in Him with what they did give and more importantly with what they had leftover.

The great mercy and grace of the Lord is not that He does not judge us for our wrongs but rather that He does not give us what our actions, hearts, and lives demand, provision by our own hands.

It is not about following a specific set of rules, giving a specific amount, being in a specific place at a specific time, it is about leaning into the Lord, listening to His still small voice and then walking in obedience and surrender to Him.