Wednesday Night Devotional

Trust & Obey

Have you ever had a person break your trust? Maybe a spouse, or one of your children, or maybe a friend. I know I have. In this world of uncertain times, disappointment with one another is inevitable. Often times, we try to figure out or make assumptions about others’ motives for whatever it was that they may have done to break our trust or disappoint us.

But that’s where the LORD comes in. Turn with me in your Bibles to Proverbs 3:5-8 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”

As you can see, we are instructed to trust God in all things, with every fiber of our being. How many of you believe that you trust God with literally everything? I mean, EVERYTHING. Even more so, we aren’t supposed to trust ourselves or our judgment.

Take, for example Psalm 118:8 “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” Who here is human? As this verse and the previous verse says, we aren’t to trust in anyone but God.

In the Gospel of Luke, in Luke 7:1-10 we find an awesome story. It reads: After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

I want to point out a few things here. We have what is likely a pagan, but whom was definitely a Gentile (that is, a non-Jew) who had heard stories about Jesus and the miraculous healing that he had been doing all over Judea. Due to his feelings of unworthiness, this centurion doesn’t even approach Jesus himself, but entreats some elders of the Jews, probably not the Pharisees or Sadduccees that had it out for Jesus, but leaders who saw Jesus as someone that had power, knowledge, and ability that rivaled even the most fervent prophets of God. Jesus then decided to come heal this man’s trusted servant, but was stopped by friends of the Centurion with a message: please don’t trouble yourself, as I am a Gentile. The centurion, through the Jewish elders, compares his (the centurion’s) power with Jesus’ own, deferring to Jesus as the definitive higher power. Just say the word and I know my servant would be healed. Then something interesting happened: Jesus was amazed. Get this, now, the God of the universe incarnate was amazed and surprised by someone. Why was He surprised? Because Jesus has only one expectation of people: that they act like the sinful human beings that they were. He knew it was in their nature to be sinful. As is ours. I mean, we can’t help it, no matter how hard we try. But I digress. So, Jesus was amazed, and then says something so profound, that, if you think about it, you’ll come to the same conclusion I did. He turns to the crowd following him and says, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” Think about this: Jesus is God, right? And as such, knows the exact history of Israel, particularly with regards to the people of the past, and says he’s never seen such faith. Not Abraham, not David, not the prophets, nobody has had such faith as this Gentile, this centurion. And as such, Jesus’ word healed the servant. Imagine how much more the centurion’s already considerable faith increased!

Did you know that faith and trust are the same word in Greek? The word here is πίστις. It is a noun that means trust and faith. To say that you have faith in God is saying that you also trust him.

So my question is this, then: do you have faith/trust in God? You should. And I’m not just talking about the BIG things, but in everything. Turn with me to Matthew 6:25-34 :“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Do you see what Jesus’ answer to our problems lays in? Look back at verse 39: But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? We are even to trust him with our needs, like food and clothing, and shelter. We are to trust Him in ALL things.

In fact, we are told in Matthew 17, the latter part of verse 20: For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

How much we could accomplish if we just had the faith of the tiniest seed! And yet, LORD forgive our unbelief.

I’m closing out, now. I ask you, how is your faith in Jesus? Do you have the kind of faith that, as the book of James says, that results in good works? Do you have a salvific faith, as a result of an intimate relationship with your LORD and savior? I pray you do. Let us pray...