Trust in God

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

Proverbs 3:5

Trusting God can be very easy in seasons of plenty but challenging during difficult times.When we face challenges or when things don’t go according to plan, our level of trust and confidence in God is put to the test. Little wonder the wise one needed to remind us that trust is essential if we want to live a fulfilling and meaningful life. Trusting in God means putting our faith in Him completely. It means acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers and that we need His help to navigate through life’s challenges. When we trust in God, we are surrendering control over our lives to Him, knowing that He will guide us towards what is best for us. He always knows what is best for us, God is our best driver of our destiny but as humans with human tendencies, sometimes we may want to exercise our control or free will to choose that which we believe is best for us. Letting go of our control over our lives can be quite challenging and difficult and that is when we ‘lean on our own understanding’.

But the wise one, warns against leaning on our own understanding, against relying solely on our own knowledge or experience instead of seeking wisdom from God. Often, when faced with difficult decisions or situations, it’s tempting to rely on our own intuition or logic rather than seeking guidance from above. Relying solely on ourselves can lead us astray. Our human understanding is limited and flawed; only God has perfect knowledge and wisdom. Therefore, if we truly want to make wise decisions and live a purposeful life, it’s essential that we seek His guidance above all else.

Trusting God should be with all our hearts. The heart represents not only our emotions but also our innermost desires and motivations. Trusting in God with all our hearts means committing ourselves fully to Him – not just intellectually but also emotionally. When we truly trust in God with all our hearts, there’s no room for doubt or fear. We know that He will always guide us towards what is best for us, even when it’s difficult or uncomfortable. This kind of trust requires vulnerability and surrender, but it also brings great rewards – peace, joy, and a sense of purpose.

Trusting in God is not just a one-time decision; it’s a daily choice. Each day presents new challenges and opportunities to either trust in God or rely on our own understanding. Therefore, we must make the conscious effort to choose trust every day. This means spending time with God through prayer and reading His Word. It means seeking wisdom from Him before making decisions instead of relying solely on our own understanding. It means choosing to see the world through His eyes rather than our own limited perspective.

Hence we ought to surrender control over our lives to God completely and seek His guidance above all else. Therefore let us make the daily choice to put our faith in Him completely so that we can experience the fullness of life He has planned for us.

Count the Stars

Sometimes in our own lives, we go through moments where it feels/looks like there will be no light at the end of the tunnel, as though our world is falling apart. The challenges of life which we all face can be so daunting that some people choose different ways to either cope with or deal with whatever situation they are in. Whether it is grief, pain, loss or whatever. In fact, some people accept their deplorable conditions sometimes and for good reasons too. When the physical evidence/fact is so convincing, how can you dare to believe otherwise? It is a difficult and a near impossible thing to do from the natural point of view. But for those who believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the impact the word of God has, there is often another way. The fact/evidence can always be weighed in relation to what the word says. Because whatever we go through, there is a word that God has spoken concerning such challenges or situations.

For example, James 5:13-15 says:

Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up…. (James 5:13-15)

When in suffering, pray; when you are cheerful, sing; when sick, call for elders to pray and you will be healed. There is that certainty that the Lord will do what he says he will do, but how often do we find the courage to believe! You see, God gives us a new frame of reference concerning any difficult situation and surely with regards to other life issues more of such can be sought out in the scriptures. A frame of reference is said to be a set of criteria or stated values in relation to which measurements or judgements can be made. For the believer, the word of God is the frame of reference. Every judgement or decision should be made with that as the bases.

Consider the man Abram, who had no child and both he and his wife had grown old to the point where they could no longer naturally bear children. But God changed their frame of reference from the natural using a natural phenomenon as a physical reminder – God asked him to count the stars. Basically, he gave them something else to consider. Abram was to count the stars if he could; because his offspring were going to be as much as the stars (Gen 15).

But how did this help Abram? Well, certainly it did because he believed and it was counted for him as righteousness. And I’d like to believe that Abram would go out in the night day after day to count the stars after he received that promise. He must have attempted to count the stars and realised it is was an impossible task. And this must have brought about renewed hope and joy at the thought of having that many children.

But what do stars have to do with babies? There was not a single “star” in Abram’s life yet and the situation naturally did not favour him. Yet he believed against the staggering odds and it was counted as righteousness. For Abram, there was no hope prior to God’s word to count the stars, hence accepted the fact/evidence that the servant will become the heir. But then God showed up and gave a word. Not just a word but a physical frame of reference too. Something that Abram could look up to every night to remind him of the promise. And eventually, he had Isaac, the child of promise.

You see, the difference between the fact/evidence is the word; what changes facts into other facts is the transcendental – the word of God, which is alive and is like a two-edged sword and capable of dividing asunder to the very soul. If we lift the word of God concerning any situation or fact/evidence, we obtain another frame of reference, another evidence that says, count the stars because even in childlessness, there are children, in sickness, pray and you will be healed; in joy, sing praises.

Your stars may be different depending on your circumstance, there could be the physical elements that you can look at and remind yourself that God had made a promise that can never go unfulfilled. Your stars could be a mental picture of what has been promised or a physical thing that helps you visualise what has been promised. It could be your blessings, as the popular hymn says; count your blessings and name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. So, get in the habit of ‘counting your stars’ to obtain a new frame of reference while you are waiting on God.