Ohhhhh goodness. Last week was a looooooong week. But, I am bound and determined to make this week much better, and I know exactly how to do that. Trust.
-taye
Trust in the Lord with all your heart...
“
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
~Proverbs 3:5 ESV
I have read and reread this verse so many times this past week, this past weekend, and even today. It is one of the first verses you learn when you become a Christian. If you have grown up in the church, like I have, then you know exactly what I mean, in fact, you have probably been able to quote, word-for-word, Proverbs 3:5 since you were about five years-old. But have you ever taken the time to actually
think and
meditate on this verse? I know that I have not, not until this past week, that is.
Trusting in God, I mean
really trusting in God is something that is absolutely easier said than done. What does it mean to
trust anyway?
I looked up that word,
trust, in my Webster’s last night. There were at least three definitions, but the one that I think hit the nail on the head was
confident hope.
To me, confident means complete reliance. Sometimes, that means having to rely on something or someone when others do not understand, or even when you yourself do not fully understand. It also means having to rely on something or someone because you cannot do it on your own. You do not have the strength to continue without the support of the something or someone you are having to rely on.
Hope. Hope, as defined by me, is believing in something or someone despite what is going on at the present. No matter your current surroundings, having hope is obtaining a belief that something better is coming along later on. That the present circumstances are temporary and that eventually better circumstances, happier times are coming.
Therefore, trust is having confident hope. Trusting someone completely means that you are relying upon them, and not your own power to get you through whatever is happening now, because you believe that something better is coming along afterward.
Trusting God, despite circumstances, despite other people, and despite yourself is extremely difficult. I am not going to lie to you or lie to myself and say that trusting in God is easy. It is not. But even though it may not be easy, it
is worth it. Better things are coming, my friend. Have confident hope until then.
"...
Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the [lion's] den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God."
~Daniel 6:23 ESV
"
For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in Me, declares the Lord."
~Jeremiah 39:18 ESV
"
Trust in the Lord forever,for the Lord God is an everlasting rock."
~Isaiah 26:4 ESV
"
Jesus overheard what they were talking about and said to the leader, 'Don't listen to them; just trust me.'"
~Mark 5:36 The Message
