Who do you trust?
Sometimes you place your trust in a faulty source.
When I was in junior high, a couple of friends convinced me to sneak out of the cafeteria and check out the unused technical booth in the back of our ancient auditorium. They had done it before without getting caught and told me how easy it was. The booth WAS cool, stuffed with reels of film, old props like a creepy mannequin and moth-eaten costumes. We didn’t have any destructive mischief planned. We just wanted the thrill of visiting an off-limits corner of our 50-year-old campus.
When we tried to sneak back to class at the end of lunch, we were caught by Vice Principal McIntyre. He was missing half his pointer finger, and he used the stub to emphasize his points with great effect on students. He threatened to pull me out of our choir musical. Fortunately, my teacher talked him out of it because I wasn’t a frequent offender. Instead, I got detention and “a mark on my permanent record.” That “mark on my permanent record” haunted me the rest of the year.
Chafing against my “goody two shoes” label, I wanted to quietly break “stupid rules” without consequences. I trusted my friends and the knowledge that I didn’t want to vandalize anything to protect me from harm.
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The dangers of misplaced trust
When you place your trust in humans and rely on your own murky intentions, you set yourself up for a fall. A few days ago, I was reading two different resources: a Bible study called “We Saved You a Seat” and a daily devotional on biblegateway.com. They both pointed me to Jeremiah 17. One focused on verse 9 highlighting the deceitfulness of the heart and the other looked at verses 7-8.
When God does that – highlighting a theme or passage from totally different places – I try to pay attention. I looked at the whole passage, Jeremiah 17:5-10, which the NLT version calls “Wisdom from the Lord.”
This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” – Jeremiah 17:5-10
It all comes down to a matter of trust. Will we trust worldly wisdom, our own selfish aims or God?
I’m not gonna lie. I feel like I’m in something of a drought. I’m still trying to hit my stride after losing my job. Our finances took a hit. My husband is in a season of enormous work stress. When my young adult kids struggle, I visit the land of regret. Could I have been a better mom when they were little?
For the most part, I control only a small piece of the burdens I’m toting around. Whether I’m in control or not, I KNOW I need help.
Trusting in anything or anyone other than God leads to despair. Relying on the Lord results in blessings that last.
How do we learn to trust God?
- Study the Bible and look for today’s path and messages of the Lord’s loving care. If you look carefully, you’ll find wisdom you can use every day. “Open my eyes to see wonderful truths in your instructions.” – Psalm 119:18
- Pray for strength and wisdom to deal with all the difficulties you encounter. Sometimes you’ll get a clear answer; other times, God wants to grow your faith. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7
- Read the signs of a loving God around you. Open your eyes to the beauty of nature or the kindness of a friend or a stranger. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” – Romans 1:20
- Realize every person you meet is a divine appointment. How will you share the Lord’s love with others? Be the kind stranger someone else needs. “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” – 2 Corinthians 5: 19-20
- Give thanks for EVERYTHING. An attitude of gratitude combats discontent. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:19
- Don’t hold on to bitterness, shame or regret. Take it to the Lord. If you can’t forgive yourself or others, talk with a friend or find a good counselor. “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” – Colossians 3:13
- Take hold of God’s grace. When you walk with him, He uses your failures, challenges and disappointments to create a masterpiece. “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” – James 1:2-4
- Step out in faith. When you see some good in the world God is prompting you to do, go ahead and do it. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35
Faith is living what we believe, experiencing God’s peace for ourselves and loving others with the insight and energy He provides. I don’t know about you, but trusting God is a choice I have to make multiple times a day.
I love what the Message version says in this passage:
“My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.” – 1 John 3:18-20 (Message)
God is greater than my own broken self, and He delights in showing me the way to go.
In what area do you need to trust God today?