Trust

​“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to Him and He will keep your path straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
 
     This has been a season of trust. My faith has been challenged like none other. Yet through the valleys, God has illuminated the darkness. He has showered me with love in ways I have never known.

     I sat alone in Sunday School. Orchestrating the morning without my husband had been challenging. Yet, how blessed I had been by the body of Christ. A friend picked up Sweet Pea and me while another was poised to drive us home. Still another was at the ready to help me pick Sweet Pea up from Sunday School.

     Conversations buzzed as I checked phone messages and waited for class to begin. But class was delayed due to a mix-up. Our fearless leader would not be present as initially anticipated.

     I sighed. How I yearned to hear a message packed with wisdom and meaty application. But as the class continued with announcements and prayer requests, a woman was called up to speak. Asked to give her testimony at the last minute, she stood at the front. As her story unfolded, I listened mesmerized.

     Her story spoke of her father. She shared how despite a disability, he chose to live a full life. She testified of his impact upon his children, to his diagnosis of a rare brain cancer. What she shared next caught my attention.

     She told of the supernatural way the Lord interceded and spoke to her need. At a time she needed it most, she heard the silent whisper of the Holy Spirit. Trust, came the whisper over her shoulder, Trust. But what happened next stole my breath. In her locked car, a sign appeared on her driver’s seat. On it was written one word. Trust.  

     “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding,” she shared, her voice thick with emotion. A shiver ran down my spine. Only that morning had my devotional held this same verse with this very message. Lean not on your own understanding but on God. I knew this message of trust was for me.

     In a season of unchartered territory, I need daily even hourly reminders of this truth. For it is when I lean on my own understanding and try to figure things out in my own strength that I fail. When I try to be in control, I veer off the path.
     As the day progressed with fun fellowship at our Sunday School pool party, the message of trust continued resonating. Even the evening devotion reinforced how leaning upon on our own understanding often tears us apart from God. But when we trust and submit to Him, we encounter God’s presence.

     Even as I type this, I need this reminder. God often asks us to obey. Yet if we let our own need for understanding prevent us from following, we miss the blessing. As humans, we often possess a need to understand before acting. If Noah waited to build the ark until God revealed His plan, who knows when the ark would have been built? For God does not owe any of us an explanation. After all, He is God and we are not. We simply need to trust and obey.

    Trust needs to be built God’s way. Not in our own strength but in God and His ways. For His ways are perfect. His ways are best. The question arises, “Do I trust Him enough to let go control? Do I trust Him to know best? Do I trust Him to redirect my steps if I go the wrong way?

     If I am honest, I struggle. I want to lean on my own understanding. I want control. With my tainted lenses, it can appear easier and is often more tangible for me to grasp. But this is a lie. It is a deception. For we humans are fallible. Yet if we allow God to guide our steps, our path is made straight because we are led by a perfect, all-knowing, loving God.
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     Here I submit to You, Lord. Help me to trust You. Help my faith grow from that of a mustard seed to one which moves mountains. Help me trust and obey. Make Your voice in my life unmistakable and clear. Oh Lord, I want to know You more. Make me steadfast, oh God. Drive away all fear and doubt with the power of Your Holy Spirit. This day and here forward, make peace, joy, and assurance my inheritance.