Trusting?

“Oh, I trust God with _____.” Do you have one of those areas? One of those, “I don’t really struggle trusting the Lord with that” areas? Or, maybe you’re like me and like to “jazz” it up a little… “I do struggle, but the Lord has shown His faithfulness so often that the struggle isn’t what it used to be”. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Well, I certainly have one of those areas… or maybe I should say “had”. I hadn’t even really given much thought to it all until I got a text from a dear friend yesterday. “You have been heavy on my heart. Are you okay?” My immediate reaction – “Yep. I’m okay.” But, afterwards, I really got to thinking about it. Did the Lord put me on her heart? Well, probably so. Because once I stopped and looked around I realized just how tense and out-of-sorts I was feeling that day. Why? Because I was worried about a situation that, truly, the Lord has taken care of repeatedly. He really has proven Himself faithful in this area of my life. But, how quickly I fell right back into stress and frustration because I couldn’t work it out on my own – right then!

I was reminded shortly after that of the verse in the Old Testament that says the Lord will fight for us. In Exodus it says, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (14:14). I haven’t been doing a very good job of being still in this situation. I’ve done everything I could to fix it myself, find a solution immediately, and discount every bit of wisdom that was given to me. Not to mention that, in one way, I got myself into it by not being patient.

And, actually, as I sit here writing this, I’m reminded of the message we heard on Sunday. It was titled “Wisdom’s Seven”. A wise decision is: pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. And, if I had just followed that list in the first place, I wouldn’t be struggling today. I still don’t have the answer. I still have to deal with the problem. But, I do believe that the Lord is still fighting for me. And I do believe that a resolution will come soon. There are some other benefits too…

The blessing of it all is that

1.    I have learned another lesson about the goodness and grace of God. He wants the best for us, and while I do believe I made the right decision overall, I should trust His timing more.

2.    I have another reminder that His grace is new every morning, and not dependent upon my perfection. Thankfully, because I’m not. And, yet, He loves me anyway… even me!

Thanks for taking the time to share in my “moment”. And I pray that if you are struggling to trust the Lord that He would work with us both of becoming more and more trusting of Him, and more and more like Him…