Value What God Values - Trust

We’ve been looking at God’s core values. These are values that we should work at developing in our own lives as we represent God in this world we live in. We’ve looked at three so far, character, courage and fellowship. We need to have all of these in order to really experience the God life in our own lives. Character means we never waiver in our convictions even though our beliefs in God and His word might alienate us from others who believe otherwise. Then to be able to fight the good fight, we must have courage. Everything that God calls us to do takes courage. And last week we saw that life is not meant to live in isolation. We need fellowship. We need relationships to live healthy lives.

Today we’re going to look at trust. The Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews that without faith it’s impossible to please God because we must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Well in order to operate in faith, we must trust God. We cannot have faith in someone we don’t trust. Think about the natural. If you take your car to be fixed and they do a great job, you trust them and you have faith that whenever you need work done they are the guys to go to. If you don’t trust them you don’t have faith in the fact that they’ll do a good job. And so it is with God. You and I must build our spirit with the Word of God so we can know God’s character and build our trust in Him. So let’s look into God’s word and see what is written concerning the core value of trust.

Proverbs 3:5–8 NLT

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. 7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. 8 Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.

1. Trusting God gives us the ability to make right decisions!

Now notice this passage doesn’t say trust God with your mind or your understanding. It tells us to trust the Lord with all of your heart. Now the Hebrew word used here for heart is the word “leb” (lave) which means your innermost being . Your heart is what makes you who you really are. We can know things in our head and that can change with circumstances. For instance, we can know in our head that we should eat healthy and exercise but that can change depending on the situation. One buffet or a trip to the fast food burger joint and it’s aloha to the healthy eating. However get that in your heart and it becomes you. It’s who you are eating healthy and exercising. So when it says to trust God with all of your heart, it’s much more than just knowing about Him or memorizing some scripture. It’s knowing Him with your heart. When that happens, He can direct you to live the life He desires for us. Trusting God allows us to live life with confidence not in ourselves but in Him!

Psalm 71:1–5 AMP

1 IN YOU, O Lord, do I put my trust and confidently take refuge; let me never be put to shame or confusion! 2 Deliver me in Your righteousness and cause me to escape; bow down Your ear to me and save me! 3 Be to me a rock of refuge in which to dwell, and a sheltering stronghold to which I may continually resort, which You have appointed to save me, for You are my Rock and my Fortress. 4 Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the unrighteous and ruthless man. 5 For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my trust from my youth and the source of my confidence.

2. Trusting God shelters us in times of trouble!

When we trust God, He protects us as we go through life’s obstacles. In fact He becomes our refuge, a place to shelter when we need one. Trusting God gives us the comfort knowing that in times of trouble He will rescue us. I’ve never known God to fail. Oh sometimes it might seem like He’s not there but He is and that’s where trust comes in. He always shows up at the right time. Trust in God gives us the assurance that no matter what happens, God is there. Like the prophet Elisha prayed for God to open the eyes of his servant to see that there are more for us than against us. Right now it might look like there are more against us, but the reality is that God is the majority. So we can trust that He will come through no matter what it looks like. We must stop trusting man and trust God because trusting in God allows us to live life with confidence, not in ourselves, but in Him!

Psalm 91:1–7 MEV

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.” 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the hunter and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall find protection; His faithfulness shall be your shield and wall. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day; 6 nor of the pestilence that pursues in darkness, nor of the destruction that strikes at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.

3. God’s delivers us from terror when we trust Him!

The world can be a terrifying place. Think about it. Today we have unrest in our country, we have all kinds of theories that flood the internet and social media, we have a crippled economy and we have a pandemic. There is really only one that can deliver us from all of these things and that is God. We must trust God more than we trust anyone else. Now that doesn’t mean we rebel against everything else but, we must know God so intimately that we know He is working on our behalf always. Just because you can quote scripture doesn’t always mean you know Him. Have you ever quoted what someone else said on the news or online and trusted that even though you don’t personally know them? Well we can personally know God in fact that’s the real benefit of Jesus dying for our sins, we are now back in fellowship with God and can know Him intimately. So we can say He will deliver us from terror. Trusting God allows us to live life with confidence not in ourselves but in Him!

Ephesians 1:11–14 NKJV

11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

4. Trusting God gives us an eternal inheritance!

There is coming a day when those who trust in Jesus, will spend eternity with Him. Now that is something to definitely look forward too. We have a future and a hope that is awesome because we have put our trust in the Gospel. We are home free and because we know this we live life very different from those who actually have no hope. Trusting God gives us hope. When our life on earth ends, our eternal life is just beginning. This is so good to know. We not only have a great life happening now because we trust God will come through for us, we also have an unbelievable future spending eternity with God. When we trust God, we also are able to create blessings that will go on for generations should the Lord tarry on His return. So we are not just looking forward to our own eternal life but the eternal life for our children, and their children and their children and so on. Now we know that we know this is going to happen by putting our trust in God, it doesn’t make any sense to put our trust in ourselves or the world around us. Just think about this, if you invest your finances in anything that is in the world, now I’m not saying we don’t do that, you know we need to invest in a place to live and it is wise to have a savings and to be debt free, but the reality is that anything we invest in on the earth has an expiration date. They’ll all come to an end! However, if you invest in God’s kingdom and touch others with the Gospel through supporting missionaries, ministries, and churches, your investment is eternal because it involves people. Only people last for eternity and we want everyone we know to spend eternity with Jesus! When this is our motivation, we have gotten the core value of trust. We trust God that what He said is true. We trust in the redemption that Jesus paid for. And we live fulfilled lives because Trusting God allows us to live life with confidence not in ourselves but in Him!