According to Strong's Concise Concordance, one of the Greek words for trust is "peitho" which means "to have confidence." Therefore when we trust God it is about us having confidence in Him. Yet I would make the case that there are many reasons why we have a hard time trusting God including:
1. We see God through human eyes. One of the realities of humanity is that we are inconsistent. We are all guilty of failing one another whether it be through a lie, failed commitments or broken promises. Therefore, because of so much human failure we see God through what we have experienced in our lives. A lot of people say "I am who I am because of my past" and a part of this is how we see people and therefore our perspective of people may influence how we see God.
2. We can't see God. Isn't it easier to trust something you can see? We have this cliche' "I'll believe it when I see it." Many of us live our lives like this in that we won't believe something until we see evidence. Trusting God by faith requires believing in Him even
though we cannot see Him. Hebrews 11 indicates the power of faith and believing without
seeing.
3. We lack personal confidence. Many of us have a hard time trusting God to work situations out for us because we lack the personal confidence that God can do great things in us. It's almost as if we see God through our personal beings. We know that we want a particular job yet we don't have the confidence to trust that God will provide the job for us and maybe the root of that is our own confidence issues. We also may lack confidence that if we really trust God and He opens the door, we'll fail in whatever He has blessed us to do. This issue of self-confidence goes back to #1. Why? Because many of us for years have been told what we can't do. We've been told my humans that we'll never amount to anything and that God can't use us. It's as if the devil plays with our minds to believe that nothing great can happen through us. That's not the right mindset to have when it comes to trusting God.
So what can we do to build our confidence (trust) in God?
1. Remember the sovereignty of God. When Jeremiah struggled with the call of God because of fear, God reminded him that He would be with Jeremiah as he was obedient to His call. Sometimes in the midst of everything going on in our lives we forget that God is
present no matter what is going on. You may at times not understand everything that is going on in your life but God is still there and knows all. So as you go through this journey
of life, trust God because He sees and knows everything that is going on. Therefore, even in
the midst of your pain God still has His hands on you.
2. Remember God's love. John 3:16a says "For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son." God loves you tremendously. Even though this world will many times
make you feel like you are only loved based on clothing, gender, age and personal style, God
loves you just for who you are. It is God's love that gives us the strength to go on when we
feel like giving up. It's God's love that affirms us when people reject us. As you go through
your various situations, trust God in that He loves you and wants to see the best for you. It
doesn't matter what people expect. God's love cancels the expectations of people, especially when those expectations don't line up with what God wants to do in your life (Jeremiah 29:11).
3. Remember to keep it real with God. In this society we like to do "fake it till you make it" yet God does not want that. God wants for us to be totally honest and transparent
about how we feel. Now some would say "well He already knows how I feel" and that's true.
However, God wants us to come to Him boldly. Part of our deliverance comes in refusing
to deny what's going on. Trust God in the fact of telling God EXACTLY how you're feeling.
If you're hurting, tell God. If you're feeling depressed, tell God. If you're struggling with an
insecurity, tell God. Right now, I want you to take a couple of minutes to fully express to
God how you're feeling about some of the things in life that are stressing you. I guarantee you'll feel 10 times better.
4. Remember to press forth in Jesus name. As you trust God through remembering
His sovereignty, His love and desire for your transparency, keep pressing forth. Don't let your situations or circumstances frustrate you. You've decided to have confidence in God
and in the process you've decided to suspend stuff that does not encourage trust in God.
Therefore you must keep going knowing that God is working the situation out. Remember
that you may not understand everything that is going on but trust God that He knows what
is best. It may look one way according to human eyes, but God sees it a different way and
His view is what matters at the end of the day.
Let us pray: God I thank you for every person that will read this blog entry. I pray that you would intervene in whatever they are going through. God I pray that each person who reads this blog will trust you no matter what they are going through. We trust you God for the answer to our prayers. We trust you God for the results that we need. And God, we want you to have your way in whatever situations we face. It is in your hands God and we praise you in advance for working the problem/situation out for us, in Jesus name, amen!
0 comments:
Post a Comment