Trust in the Lord (2)

Pray.

Wow! What a week!

That has been the response that I have shared with a number of individuals over the past several days. There really are not words to adequately describe the events that have transpired over the past several days.

One word that has come to my mind frequently in these past days is the word...

Trust

Dr. David Sorenson calls Proverbs 3:5-6 one of the great mountain peak verses of the Christian life.Certainly it is one of the most well-know passages of Scripture in Christianity.We know it well but we do we practice it well?The Bible says a lot about trust…particularly about trusting God.

Psalm 56:3 KJV 1900

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

Psalm 91:2 KJV 1900

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: My God; in him will I trust.

Psalm 118:8–9 KJV 1900

It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in princes.

Isaiah 12:2 KJV 1900

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: For the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation.

Isaiah 26:3–4 KJV 1900

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: For in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

Perhaps, though, two of the most well known verses in Scripture are verses which address the subject of trust. Those verses are....

Proverbs 3:5–6 KJV 1900

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.

There is a particular phrase in vs. 5 which jumps out at me and that is...

“…lean not unto thine own understanding.”

I will have to admit that there is much that is going on right now in our world - in our state - that I do not understand. What should be my response? Trust.

“God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”

What is trust?

When King Solomon wrote, “Trust in the Lord…,” he meant

To put your confidence in; to rely upon.

What are some things that we trust?

Have those things ever failed?

Who are some individuals that we trust (or have trusted)?

Have they ever failed us?

It should also be noted that we fail ourselves!

This is important for us to understand. Every object is capable of failing us. Every individual is capable of failing us. Objects will fail us. Individuals will fail us. We will fail ourselves!

But God will never fail us! God is incapable of failing us!

2 Timothy 2:13 KJV 1900

If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

Church family, we must trust the Lord!

We are going to trust something or someone; even if that something or someone is ourselves. But my challenge this morning is that we should trust the Lord at all times and in all things. So, the question becomes...

Why should we trust the Lord?

Turn to and read Jeremiah 17:5-8.

I find great encouragement in vs. 7 and 8:

Jeremiah 17:7 KJV 1900

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

How is the man, who trusts the Lord, blessed?

Jeremiah 17:8 KJV 1900

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

Notice some characteristics of the individual who trusts the Lord:

He shall be as a tree planted by the waters...

An individual who trusts the Lord is an individual who has their roots firmly planted in God’s Word.

Psalm 1:1–3 KJV 1900

Blessed is the man That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; And in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

At a time like this, it is so easy to allow our minds to be caught up with and dwell upon all the things that read in the media and, while it is important to stay informed, we must allow our minds to be saturated with the Word of God!

Colossians 3:16 KJV 1900

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Isaiah 26:3 KJV 1900

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee.

Not only is an individual who trusts the Lord one who has their roots firmly planted in God’s Word, they are also one who’s focus is on God’s goodness.

He…shall not see when heat cometh...

Does the heat come? Yes.

Do difficult times come? Yes.

Do we find ourselves in the midst one of those difficult times right now? Yes.

What are you going to focus on? The heat or on God’s goodness?

God is good…(All the time!)

All the time…(God is good!)

Psalm 34:8 KJV 1900

O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

God is so good, God is so good; God is so good, He's so good to me!

He loves me so, He loves me so, He loves me so, He's so good to me!

He died for me, He died for me, He died for me, He’s so good to me!

Those who trust the Lord are blessed. They are firmly planted in God’s Word; they focus on the goodness of God, not the “heat.”

God’s great goodness is demonstrated through His great love for us and that is the reason why we can and should truth the Lord!

Trust the Lord; He Loves You!

How do we know that God loves us?

John 3:16 KJV 1900

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Romans 5:8 KJV 1900

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:12 KJV 1900

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Romans 8:32 KJV 1900

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

John 10:27–28 KJV 1900

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Will you trust God this morning? Not just to get you safely through this pandemic known as COVID-19 but trust God for eternal life?