Trust In The LORD

It recently occurred to me how important it is to trust GOD.  We're so quick to say, "Oh yeah, I trust GOD."  But do we REALLY trust Him?  You see, trusting GOD is more than just placing confidence in GOD.  Yes, it's a VERY good thing to trust that GOD is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do.  But a better question to ask ourselves would be, "At what level do I trust GOD to be who He says He is and do what He says He will do?"  I can assure you that we all do not have the same degree of confidence in GOD because there wouldn't be such disparaging differences in our lives if we indeed did.

Most--if not all--of us would agree that trusting GOD is super simple, when we can picture how He's going to come through for us.  That's technically NOT trusting Him (LOL!); but I'll make an exception this time.  I'm headed somewhere, though; so follow me...  When we really trust GOD, we don't even care HOW He fulfills His Word because our confidence rests in the fact that He's going to do just what He said.  It may not necessarily be how we would like for Him to do it or even when we feel He should do it.  But at the end of the day, GOD makes it happen just as He promised.

Even Proverbs 3:5 encourages us to trust in the LORD with all our hearts and lean not to our own understanding.  Our confidence is not to rest upon our own intelligence and insight, specifically when it comes to understanding how GOD will fulfill His Word.  But what gets us in trouble is not knowing how deceptive the human heart can be when our trust is not in the LORD.  Scripture records in Jeremiah 17:9 that the heart is deceitful above ALL things, and desperately wicked.  Whether or not we want to accept it, our inner man is fraudulent.  As humans, we possess a malignant disposition of the mind--that is, our mindset is such that we are likely to rebel against GOD or authority.  So, as my pastor says quite frequently, "You're absolutely right when you say, 'Well, the LORD knows my heart.'"  He knows it a lot better than even we credit Him as knowing it.

Make no mistake about it: GOD knows if we trust Him, and He knows to what degree we trust Him.  Otherwise, the judgment He gives us could not be justified.  Jeremiah 17:10 pretty much tells us that the LORD searches the heart and proves the seat of our desires and affection as a prerequisite for giving to every man according to what is done as well as the fruit of what man does (i.e. "the effect and influence his doings have had upon others," as stated in Matthew Henry's commentary of Jeremiah 17).  That's heavy right there!  Whatever GOD finds in our hearts, He will pass judgment upon.  Whatever GOD sees us do, He will pass judgment upon.  Whatever GOD perceives the effects of our actions as being, He will pass judgment upon.  Therefore, trust in the LORD with your whole heart and live wholeheartedly in that trust.  To once more cite Matthew Henry, his commentary on Proverbs 3 shares, "We must, with an entire submission and satisfaction, depend upon him to perform all things for us, and not lean to our own understanding, as if we could, by any forecast of our own, without God, help ourselves, and bring our affairs to good issue."  In other words, trusting in the LORD guarantees the absolute best outcome.  Trusting in your own understanding only leads to a world of trouble.