To make someone feel comforted in a time of distress we might say, “God has a plan”, or “All things happen for a reason”. I too have used those empty sayings one time or another. But the one that always confused me was “Just Trust God”… Why am I calling them empty? Because if you are not totally following Christ with your life these sayings will not matter to you. They will not help you. Let me break it down a little:
1. “God has a plan” – YES, he does have a plan (Jeremiah 29:11) but if we are not asking Him every step of the way what to do we will not be following His plan but rather our own. So this saying is empty because even though HE does have a plan, know the plan and desire to help us in the plan, we are not asking for it, looking for it or following it.
2. “All things happen for a reason” – Yes, God does ordain things as in Romans 8:28, but in reading this you will find it says; “God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” We must remember that God gave us free will…. Joshua 24:15 says to choose who you will serve. If you choose to serve yourself than you will live a self satisfying life where things are going to happen that are NOT God’s best, not according to His plan and the things that happen will not be for good reason.
As I was pondering today over the saying “Just Trust God” it became clear why this too is empty or without purpose for those not seeking God’s will. First of all, how do we trust something? We encounter a relationship with someone or something and after time has passed and we witness consistency with it we are then able to trust or know the outcome. A child is always first hesitant to jump into the water with mom/dad waiting but after a few times they gain trust that the parent will indeed catch them just as they did the time before. How about driving your car on a busy highway. We trust the cars to stay in their own lane and follow the speed limit because after doing this day in and day out we have seen consistency with it. The sun comes up and goes down during the day just as the moon and stars come out at night. Again, something we have witnessed and trust will take place tomorrow just as it did today.
To say to someone “Dude, just trust God”, and if that person has not been laying things down before God and witnessing first hand the power of being lead, they will not know what this saying means. They soon will become frustrated with it and maybe all together turn from the faith. I myself have witnessed utter frustration when people give me these “simple” answers for a quick fix,
Trust God with every area in your life. How do we do that? We all have many areas that are included with us. Money, Husband/Wife, Kids, Parents, Job, Home, Friends, Church, Sex, Drugs, Gossip, Lust, Status…. you get the point.
First we must invite Jesus in those areas. An example could be, “Jesus, I invite you into my bank account. How would you like me to spend my money?” or “Jesus, I like to gossip. Clean my thoughts and heart of this sin as it only kills my relationship with the other person rather than bring us closer.” As we lay these things at the feet of Jesus, He will then be able to come in and help clean us up. That may mean we attend a class on finance, or we slow down and enjoy our kids, or clean up our house to make it a home or put our spouse first and love that no other or go to rehab….whatever it may be, Jesus will lead the way. But we must first lay it down and sometimes over and over lay it down for direction on how to do God’s will and not our own. In Matthew 26:36-46, Jesus went to pray 3 times as He says “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death”.
Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty if fleeting; but a women who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Why does she fear? Not that the big ol mean God will come down with fire over her, but if she walks out on her own she will go selfishly and blindly which could make a mess of things and miss the beauty of God in her life. She Trust’s God’s plan will be better than anything she could have ever done alone.
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” Philippians 3:13
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19 NLT
The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8
Let us trust and see that the Lord is good…
2himigo,
Amanda
2HIMIGO 