Word For The Day: Choosing To Trust God
This week our daily devotions have been focused on Trusting God. Jerry Bridges has written an excellent little book by the same title. I hope you will find a copy and read it for yourself.
As we get to know the character of God, we recognize that He is sovereign, loving, and wise. He calmly and effortlessly controls all circumstances, people, and nations according to his wise purposes.
As you face life this week, you may feel fear. The uncertainties in the economy, the threat of the COVID19 pandemic, or your health concerns may be creating anxiety in your heart. Here is what David said when he was being pursued by King Saul and then faced a threat from the Philistines:
Psalm 56:3-4
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
Despite his fear, David chose to put his trust in God. In the face of evil schemes by people in authority, David chose to recognize the presence of God and His constant help. David writes,
Psalm 16:8
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Trusting God begins with the knowledge of God. We must know that God is sovereign, wise, and loving. We can then exercise the will and chose to trust Him because we know he is faithful in these attributes. Trusting God then is a matter of faith. Faith is a product of the work of the Holy Spirit who lives within us (Galatians 5:22). Bridges put it this way, “we are responsible to obey the will of God, but that we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit for the enabling power to do it!”
The whole idea of trusting God rests upon the fact that he is worthy of our trust – He is trustworthy! So lay hold of His promises:
Hebrews 13:5b-6
God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”
Because God will never leave or forsake you, you can “cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you!” (1 Peter 5:7)
HE CARES FOR YOU!
🔺His care is constant – not hit and miss.
🔺His care is total – even the hairs of your head are numbered.
🔺His care is sovereign – nothing can touch you that He does not allow.
🔺His care is infinitely wise and good – you can’t improve on it.
Maybe right now everything is going great for you. When things are going great in your life, you must also learn to trust in God. Some dangers come to us in the good times. Bridges points us to three of them:
🔺We tend to forget God’s fatherly care – In times of prosperity and favorable circumstances, we show our trust in God by acknowledging Hin as the provider of all those blessings.
🔺We tend to trust the instruments of God’s provision rather than God Himself. In the usual course of events, God provides for needs through human means rather than directly. He provides for our financial needs through our job and gives us medical people to treat us when we are ill. But we must be careful to look beyond the means and human instrumentalities to the God who uses them.
🔺We tend to turn to God in trust in the greater crisis experiences of life while seeking to work through the minor difficulties ourselves. We must learn to trust God in the ordinary circumstances that we face.
Whatever you are facing today, hardship, or favorable circumstances, choose to say, “I will trust in You!”
Pastor Phil