Tag Archives: Trust in God

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God In A Box

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

What are you fearing today? Where are you doubting God? How are your expectations forcing God into your little theology box? God is God, and he will not be confined to our expectations, so reject fear and follow faith—and remember, faith makes things possible, not easy! Get your eyes off of circumstances and back onto God! Consider that God may have some creative alternatives to accomplish his plan through you, but he will need to blow your God-box to smithereens to accomplish it. Let him!

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Kings 19:11-12

The Lord said to Elijah, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Elijah was depressed—and who could blame him. He had just come off a spiritual high where fire had rained down from heaven and consumed Elijah’s sacrifice in his contest with the prophets of Baal. God had answered Elijah so dramatically that even wicked King Ahab was impressed, and it seemed, ready to repent and turn to God. All Israel was abuzz with the God of Elijah, and Elijah assumed that a spiritual awakening was about to sweep the wayward nation back to faith in Yahweh.

But Queen Jezebel put a damper on Elijah’s momentum. She threatened to kill him, and the guy who had just called down fire from heaven, who just executed 850 false prophets, who had single-handedly led the nation to the brink of revival, let one mean, nasty, notorious woman ruin his day. Word came to Elijah that the queen had ordered him killed, and now, the prophet’s faith gave way to fear.

Just a momentary sidebar here: Fear is the greatest enemy to your faith. You cannot be a fearful faithful person. The battle in your life will always boil down to fear and faith. Faith calls you to trust God for provision and protection; fear tempts you to look at your circumstances—which will always overwhelm you and call you to trust in your own ability to overcome them. Fear is one of Satan’s chief weapons to get your eyes off God and onto circumstances. That’s why the number one command in Scripture is to “fear not.” Someone has pointed out that there are 365 “Fear Not’s” in the Bible—one for every day of the year—and you will need each one to follow faith instead of fear!

Back to Elijah—this prophet of fire fled. He got depressed. He even contemplated ending his life—“I have had enough, Lord, take my life…” (1 Kings 19:4). His perspective was so messed up and he was so disappointed with God that he sunk to an all-time low. But as the story progresses in 1 Kings 19, God does several things for Elijah that will pull him out of the pit and put him back onto his prophetic path.

  1. God gave Elijah physical renewal. He allowed him to rest—“then he lay down and slept…” (1 Kings 19:5) Sometimes taking a nap is a very spiritual thing. You don’t always need revival, sometimes you simply need rest. And God allowed him to eat—”Get up and eat!” (1 Kings 19:6) There are times when faith is not the issue, it is food. Perhaps our emotional depletion could be the result of the improper care of our physical lives.
  2. God led Elijah to a quiet place where he allowed him to pour out his heart—“Elijah came to a cave…the Lord said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9-10) Now keep in mind, God knew why Elijah was there—so God is not in the dark as to why Elijah is physically standing there. Rather, what God is doing is giving Elijah the opportunity to get some things off his chest. This is God’s invitation for Elijah to pour out his heart. Likewise, we will find holy therapy whenever we pour our heart out to God openly and honestly.
  3. God focused Elijah back on the mission—“Go back…and anoint Hazael to be king of Aram…Jehu to be king of Israel…and Elisha to replace you as prophet…” (1 Kings 19:15-16). Rather than allowing him to stew in his juice, God gave Elijah a new assignment—a purpose that would energize him for the next phase of his ministry. God wants Elijah, and by extension, you and me, to be mission-driven rather than emotion-driven.
    What is God doing in this story with Elijah? He is graciously showing this faithful prophet who had made the mistake of putting God in his little “prophet box” that he, the Sovereign Lord, is, has been, and always will be in control. He has a plan, and he is working it out, even if it isn’t according to Elijah’s expectations. He is the God who doesn’t answer by fire each time—as you would expect, and prefer. He doesn’t always make a grand entrance with an earthquake; the mountains don’t rattle and the wind doesn’t always rip the roof off when God acts—sometimes the Almighty answers in a gentle whisper.

God is God, and he will not be confined to our expectations. That’s the bottom line to this story. God has a plan, and he’s sticking to it. We don’t always know all the details of that plan, and we don’t need to. All we need is to trust and obey, and God will take care of the rest. So take the lid off your box!

What are you fearing today? Where are you doubting God? How are your expectations forcing God into your little box? Reject fear and follow faith—and remember, faith makes things possible, not easy! Get your eyes off of circumstances and back onto God! Consider that God may have some creative alternatives to accomplish his plan through you, so let him blow your little spiritual box to smithereens!

And don’t be surprised, God may call to you in a gentle whisper today!

Fear is faith in Satan;
Faith is fearing God.
Ever see it that way?
Does seem rather odd.
Fear says, “God may fail me!”
Faith knows He keeps His word.
Hitherto the Lord hath helped us;
Doubting now would be absurd.
He careth for the sparrows;
Are you not more than these?
Why are you then so fearful?
Stay longer on your knees.
Dismiss your doubts and feeling,
Stand still, and see it through.
The God who fed Elijah
Will do the same for you!
—Author Unknown

Going Deeper With God: How about offing this prayer today: Dear Father, how many times have I been guilty of trying to force you into my little box? Forgive me, and give me a fresh dose of believing faith today. Blow my box to smithereens. Open my eyes to the unlimited possibilities in you. God, you can come to me in a spiritual earthquake or a gentle whisper—it doesn’t matter as long as you are there. So I open my heart to your creative ways and I renew my commitment to trust you and obey your perfect plan for my life. May your will be done, may your kingdom come this day. Amen.

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The Central Point

In The Exact Middle Of God's Word You'll Find The Exact Center of God's Will

Want to find God’s will for you? Go to the very center of the Bible—literally! 594 chapters from either the front or the back will bring you to Psalm 118:8, and there you’ll find the best advice ever: Go with God! Don’t put your hopes in a politician or a celebrity or a sports star or anyone else for that matter. God alone is eternal and dependable and perfect in all his ways!

Read: Psalm 118 // Focus: Psalm 118:8

“It is better to take refuge in the LORD tan to trust in man.”

This isn’t original with me, but I thought you might find it interesting nonetheless:

The shortest chapter in the Bible is the previous reading—Psalms 117. The longest chapter in the Bible is the one to follow—Psalm 119. Today’s chapter, Psalm 118, is the literal center of the Bible.

There are 594 chapters before Psalm 118 and there are 594 chapters after Psalm 118. If you add these numbers up you get 1188.

What is the center verse in the Bible? None other than Psalms 118:8,

Far better to take refuge in God than trust in people; Far better to take refuge in God than trust in celebrities. (The Message)

Does this verse say something significant about God’s perfect will? Obviously, it does! So the next time someone says they would like to find God’s plan for their life and that they want to be in the center of His will, just send them to the exact middle of His Word, and there they can read for themselves the central point of God’s purpose for mankind:

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. (NKJV)

Now isn’t it odd how this worked out, or was God at the center of it?

Making Life Work: Write out Psalm 118:8 from your favorite version. Post it where you can see it throughout the day for one week. Memorize it, meditate on it, pray it, share it, thank God for it and most of all, live it!

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Organic Devotion

Making Life Work
Read: Psalm 40:4
Focus: Psalm 40:1-17

Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust.

Are you willing to trust God completely—even when it doesn’t make sense? Are you willing to praise the Lord unconditionally—even when life throws you a curve? Will you speak of his love and goodness gratefully—even when on the surface, circumstances would seem to indicate anything but his loving-kindness toward you?

Of course, committed Christ-followers always answer quickly and resoundingly with a “yes!” to those questions. But what happens to your complete, unconditional trust, like David:

  • When you find yourself in a “slimy pit” (Psalm 40:2)
  • When the will of God requires “sacrifice and offering” that are painful and costly (Psalm 40:6)
  • When your many “troubles” and personal “sin” have landed you in deep weeds, causing your “heart” to dispair (Psalm 40:12)
  • When there are those who want to “ruin” your reputation, “take your life” and make a public mockery of you (Psalm 40:14-15)

What happens then? Are you just as willing to trust the Lord and give testimony to his great faithfulness?

In a very real sense, neither good times nor bad days were relevant to David’s faith, because his life was anchored in something far better: the immutable character of a righteous and loving God. As a result, what you witness in David is profound trust in spite of difficult circumstances and unfettered praise in scorn of harsh consequences.

Both in private and in public, King David exuded the kind of organic devotion to God that came with no strings attached (Psalm 40:9-10),

I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD.
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

Throughout the millennia, here have been innumerable spiritual heroes, like David, who have exhibited that kind of organic devotion. One in particular comes to mind. In the year 155 AD, one of the early church fathers, and eighty-six year old man names Polycarp, a Christ-follower who had been discipled by the Apostle John himself, was burned at the stake. When given the chance to recant before the fires were lit, he said, “Eighty and six years I have served Christ and He has done me nothing but good; how then could I curse Him, my Lord and Savior?” Polykarp was one of the blessed who was martyred for his faith.

“Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust.”

Now that’s organic devotion! But you might ask: How was Polycarp so blessed, since he was burned to death? Where is the blessing in dying such a torturous, humiliating death? Well, Polycarp has been elevated to that eternal cloud of witnesses alongside David, while his executioners have been relegated to the dustbin of history.

You see, from this side of life, trust doesn’t always make sense, but from the eternal side, unconditional trusting bears the fruit of eternal blessing.

So yes, blessed is the one who makes the Lord his trust! David was blessed—so was Polycarp. I want to be one of those in the company of the blessed, too! Don’t you?

__________________

“There is a God in heaven who over-rules all things for the best; and this is the comfort of my soul.” (David Brainerd)

 

Making Life Work: Take a moment to write out your unconditional trust in the Lord, a pre-commitment to his lovingkindness and sovereign care  in advance of any hardship that may come your way.

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The Wheelbarrow of Ruthless Trust

Being With Jesus:
John 14.1 (NLT)

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”

In his book, Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning tells the story of ethicist John Kavanaugh, who traveled to India to work with Mother Teresa in “the house of the dying”. Kavanaugh was searching for what to do with the rest of his life, so he asked Mother Teresa to pray for him that God would grant him clarity. She refused, saying, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When Kavanaugh protested that Mother Teresa seemed to have such great clarity, she responded, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust.”

Manning goes on to say that it is trust—the simple but ruthless childlike trust that we place in God—that is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship. I agree. That is what Jesus called his disciples to in the first century—to trust in God, to trust in him—and that is the challenge that Jesus lays down for his would be followers in our age.

No matter how you slice it, the basic minimum requirement for following Jesus always comes down to this: Will you give him your total trust? If you will, you are on your way to the most exciting and rewarding experience of life a person will ever have—walking with Jesus. And from what Jesus said in John 14:1, we can deduce that one of the basic blessings of placing our trust in God is trouble-free heart. Not a trouble free life, mind you, but a heart (and a mind, Paul adds in Philippians 4:7) that is guarded by Jesus himself.

However, if you won’t give God your total trust, your Christian experience will never get out of the harbor and set sail on the rewarding voyage of risky discipleship. You will find yourself nursing a troubled heart and travelling a less than satisfying journey with God.

“Trust in God,” Jesus says, “and trust in me.” So are you? When your faith is boiled down to its basic elements, will we find there, in spite of life’s circumstances and in scorn of the consequences of living out your faith, a simple but ruthless childlike trust in God? Or is trust something that merely gets talked about but never fleshed out?

A lot of people talk about trusting God, fewer people actually place the totality of their lives in the Father’s hands and unequivocally say, “into your hands, I commit my spirit. May your will be done.” If you are one of the courageous and committed few who do, you have given the greatest gift a human being can place before the God who has everything—the rare trifecta of extreme dependence, radical faith and resolute obedience. Nothing brings a smile to the Father’s heart like that.

One of the best examples of this kind of ruthless trust came from the life of the famous tightrope walker, George Blondin. In the 1850’s, for a publicity stunt, Goerge decided he would walk across Niagara Falls on a rope that had been stretched from one side of the falls to the other. Crowds lined up on both the Canadian and American sides to watch this unbelievable feat. Blondin began to walk across, inch-by-inch, step-by-step, and everybody knew that if he’d make one mistake he was a goner. He got to the other side and the crowd went wild. Blondin said, “I’m going to do it again.” And to the crowd’s delight, he did. Then, to everybody’s amazement, he crossed again, this time pushing a wheel-barrow full of dirt. He actually did this several times, and as he started to go across one last time, someone in the crowd said, “I believe you could do that all day.” Blondin dumped out the dirt and said, “Get into the wheelbarrow.”

In a very real sense that is what God is saying to you and me. Our talk alone is cheap. At some point, we need to get in the wheelbarrow of trust and prove that our discipleship is real.

“Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for love of it. … Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic.” (Brennan Manning)

Getting To Know Jesus: Pray this honest and humble prayer: “God, I trust in you. Help my lack of trust!”

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Divine Tests & Deeper Revelations

Essential 100—Read:
Genesis 21:1-22:9

“Some time later God tested Abraham…‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’” ~Genesis 22:1

I’m guessing this story in Genesis 22 raises a few questions for you.  I mean, doesn’t this “Divine ask” violate everything we know and trust about the character of God?  How could a loving God ask such a cruel thing of Abraham?  And if God did that to Abraham, doesn’t that raise the question of what kind of tests will he put me through?

If you’re feeling a little upset with “the God who tests” about now, here is my advice: Relax, take a deep breath, and step back for a broader view of God. Once you go a little deeper into this story and look at it through the lens of the entire Bible, here is what you will come to understand about Divine tests:

First of all, God’s tests are never without preparation. Notice the very first line of this story: “Some time later…” With God, time comes before testing. Typically, the word “test” conjures up negative images. Tests are the enemy; they are set-ups for failure; the harder the test, the more unfair the teacher. But those kinds of tests and that kind of teacher have no place in an accurate theology of God. This test came only after the events of Abraham’s life that took place between Genesis 12 and Genesis 22.

God didn’t suddenly spring this test on Abraham—and he’ll never spring one on you. This is no pop quiz; it is not without context. Abraham has now walked with God for about 30 or 40 years, and God has been preparing him through lesser tests all along the way. God didn’t test him like this until he knew Abraham was equipped for it. And God will never give you a test that you cannot pass.

Divine tests only come when you are prepared!

Second, God’s tests are never without purpose. In Genesis 22:12, the Lord stops Abraham from slaying Isaac, and says, “Now I know that you fear God.” This word “test” is used eight times in the Old Testament when God does the testing and each time it is used in the Old English sense of the word, “to prove.”  God’s testing is not to expose, but to establish. When God says, “now I know”, that wasn’t for God’s benefit, it was to give Abraham confidence that his faith in God was no foolish faith. You see, Abraham’s faith was tested, God’s faithfulness was tested, and both were established as trustworthy in Abraham’s mind.

Divine tests will always prove that your faith in God is never misplaced.

And third, God’s tests are never without provision. Genesis 22:14 says, “So Abraham called the place ‘The LORD will provide.’” The emphasis here is not on the provision, but “the Lord who provides.”  The most important provision for Abraham is a prophetic revelation of the person of God and his plan. The physical provision, whatever that might be, is always secondary to a deeper revelation of the One who provided it, and his purpose for providing it. Through this test, Abraham learned what God wants you to learn: He is the Lord who provides!

Divine tests always result in a deeper revelation of God to you.

Now that you know about divine tests, dare you say, “bring it on!”?

 “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Reflect and Apply:  Are you going through a test of faith right now?  If so, begin to look for a deeper revelation of who God is, a clearer sense of what God has planned, and a practical way to express trust in his character.

 

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The Defining Spirit of Authentic Discipleship

Read: John 14

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.” (John 14:1, NLT)

In his book, Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning tells the story of ethicist John Kavanaugh, who traveled to India to work with Mother Teresa in “the house of the dying”. Kavanaugh was searching for what to do with the rest of his life, so he asked Mother Teresa to pray for him that God would grant him clarity.  She refused, however, saying, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When Kavanaugh protested that Mother Teresa herself seemed to have such great clarity, she responded, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust.”

It is trust, Manning goes on to say—simple but ruthless childlike trust we place in God—that is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship. I agree. That is what Jesus called his disciples to in the first century—to trust in God, to trust in him—and that is the challenge Jesus lays down for those who would follow him in our age.

No matter how you slice it, the basic minimum requirement for following Jesus always comes down to this: Will you give him your total trust? If you will, you are on your way to the most exciting and rewarding experience of life a person will ever have—walking with Jesus. And from what Jesus said in John 14:1, we can deduce that one of the basic blessings of placing our trust in God is a trouble-free heart.  Not a trouble free life, mind you, but a heart (and a mind, Paul adds in Philippians 4:7) that is guarded by Jesus himself.

However, if you won’t give God your total trust, your Christian experience will never get out of the harbor and set sail on the rewarding voyage of risky discipleship.  You will find yourself nursing a troubled heart and traveling a less than satisfying journey with God.

“Trust in God,” Jesus says, “and trust in me, too.” So, are you?  When your faith is boiled down to its basic elements, will we find there, in spite of life’s circumstances and in scorn of faith’s consequences, a simple but ruthless childlike trust in God?  Or is trust something that merely gets talked about but never fleshed out?

A lot of people talk about trusting God, fewer people actually place the totality of their lives in the Father’s hands and unequivocally say, “into your hands, I commit my spirit.  May your will be done.” If you are one of the courageous and committed few who do, you have given the greatest gift a human being can place before the God who has everything—the rare trifecta of extreme dependence, radical faith and resolute obedience.  Nothing brings a smile to the Father’s heart like that.

In the 1850’s, a famous tightrope walker named George Blondin, for a publicity stunt, decided he would walk across Niagara Falls on a rope that had been stretched from one side of the falls to the other. Crowds lined up on both the Canadian and American sides to watch this unbelievable feat.  Blondin began to walk across, inch-by-inch, step-by-step, and everybody knew that if he made one mistake he was a goner. He got to the other side and the crowd went wild.  Blondin said, “I’m going to do it again.” And to the crowd’s delight, he did. Then, to everybody’s amazement, he crossed again, this time pushing a wheel-barrow full of dirt.  He actually did this several times, and as he started to go across one last time, someone in the crowd said, “I believe you could do that all day.” Blondin dumped out the dirt and said, “Get into the wheelbarrow.”

In a very real sense that is what God is saying to you and me. Our talk alone is cheap.  At some point, we need to get in the wheelbarrow of trust and prove that our discipleship is real.

“Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for love of it. … Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic.” ~Brennan Manning

What If God Took Over?

Pray this honest and humble prayer:  “God, I trust in you.  Help my lack of trust!”

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Psalm 40: Organic Devotion

Read Psalm 40:1-17

Organic Devotion

Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust.
(Psalm 40:4)

Are you willing to trust the Lord even when it doesn’t make sense? Are you willing to praise him unconditionally? Will you speak of his love and goodness even when on the surface, circumstances would seem to indicate anything but his loving-kindness toward you?

Of course, committed Christ-followers always answer quickly and resoundingly with a “yes!” to those questions. But what happens when, like David, you find yourself in a “slimy pit” (Psalm 40:2), or when the will of God requires painful and costly sacrifice on your part (Psalm 40:6), or when your personal failings have landed you in deep weeds (Psalm 40:12), or when there are those who want to destroy your life and ruin your reputation (Psalm 40:14-15)? What happens then? Are you just as willing to trust the Lord and give testimony to his great faithfulness?

In a very real sense, neither good times nor bad days were relevant to David’s faith, because his life was anchored in something far better: the immutable character of God. As a result, what you witness in David is profound trust in spite of circumstances and unfettered praise in scorn of consequences. Both in private and in public, there was an organic devotion to God that came with no strings attached (Psalm 40:9-10),

I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD.
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

There have been many spiritual heroes, like David, who have exhibited that kind of organic devotion. One in particular comes to mind, since it was on this very day, February 23, in the year 155 AD, that the 86 year-old Polycarp, an early Church Father who had been discipled by the Apostle John, was burned at the stake. When given the chance to recant before the fires were lit, he said, “Eighty and six years I have served Christ and He has done me nothing but good; how then could I curse Him, my Lord and Savior?”

Now that’s organic devotion! But you might ask: How was Polycarp so blessed, since he was burned to death? Well, Polycarp has been elevated to that eternal cloud of witnesses alongside David, while his executioners have been relegated to the dustbin of history. You see, from this side of life, trust doesn’t always make sense, but from the eternal side, unconditional trusting bears the fruit of eternal blessing.

So yes, blessed is the one who makes the Lord his trust! David was blessed—so was Polycarp. I want to be one of those in the company of the blessed, too! Don’t you?

“There is a God in heaven who over-rules all things for the best;
and this is the comfort of my soul.”
—David Brainerd