Trust.
So I attended a weekend-long retreat that's all about equipping and encouraging university students to go out to their campuses and share the life-changing message of the Gospel with others. From all the things I learned and heard, one thing continues to stick with me.
A lot of the time we fail - ourselves, our friends, parents, teachers, God. A lot of the time things aren't the way we want them to be. This can frustrate, anger, sadden and discourage us from continuing on. But here's the thing: if we really believe that our God is an awesome, all powerful, loving and caring God then our fear of starting over or taking steps forward wouldn't have power over us. Satan wouldn't be able to hold us down and hold us back.
This is where trust comes in. We need to trust that God will direct us to a good place. Because the free salvation he's given us has been our ticket out of hell, eternal separation from God, we know that anywhere else he takes us is going to be a good place.
When we pray, when we tell God our struggles and ask him to help us, do we complain and cry out in vain? I'll admit, I get upset at the Lord for the circumstances I'm in, for the way things are - but complaining doesn't get you anywhere. I always say, if you're gonna complain at least do something about it too. Pray. Trust God to hear your prayer. Trust that he can, and not always will, answer your prayer.
Often we put God in a box. We compare him to the wind, a storm, things we consider big and mighty. Then we think of God as being those big things. The danger in doing that is that we forget that God is incomprehensible, he's beyond our understanding, and to think that we can fully understand who he is is wrong. But though he is so grand and so powerful, he is also completely personal with us. He wants to know us, wants to be in our hearts; he wants us. This is who God is and where faith comes in; trusting what we don't completely understand but having faith that he has what's best for us.
I was recently reading Hebrews 11 and this is the most emphasized point in almost every verse of that chapter: by faith. Everything they did was by faith. It honestly felt like a children's story, like one of those picture books that repeats the same part over and over again but in different situations. Faith is what ties all the stories together; it's the moral of the story. It's what's important, it's what gets you to heaven; it is what God wants from you.
And yet it's always easier said than done. To anyone who's actually reading this I apologize for rambling on about this. It just comes to show that this is really the inner conflict I experience on a day-to-day basis, trusting God and not trusting God. I know I won't always know what will happen next or understand why things are happening, but what's important is that we rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let our reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Remember that he is good. His love endures forever. The promises he made thousands of years ago are promises we can still depend on him to keep today.
It's funny. Two years ago, my year-long motto was trust games. Having to remind myself of something I thought I victoriously accomplished just comes to show that the heart really is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? There will always be room to grow; you'll never stop learning more about yourself or about God. Just when you think you're at 99% of being completely "okay" you'll pull yourself back another 50% and have to work from the beginning.
It's all about perseverance, my friend, aka myself. Don't lose heart - entrust your heart into his hands.
Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
A lot of the time we fail - ourselves, our friends, parents, teachers, God. A lot of the time things aren't the way we want them to be. This can frustrate, anger, sadden and discourage us from continuing on. But here's the thing: if we really believe that our God is an awesome, all powerful, loving and caring God then our fear of starting over or taking steps forward wouldn't have power over us. Satan wouldn't be able to hold us down and hold us back.
This is where trust comes in. We need to trust that God will direct us to a good place. Because the free salvation he's given us has been our ticket out of hell, eternal separation from God, we know that anywhere else he takes us is going to be a good place.
When we pray, when we tell God our struggles and ask him to help us, do we complain and cry out in vain? I'll admit, I get upset at the Lord for the circumstances I'm in, for the way things are - but complaining doesn't get you anywhere. I always say, if you're gonna complain at least do something about it too. Pray. Trust God to hear your prayer. Trust that he can, and not always will, answer your prayer.
Often we put God in a box. We compare him to the wind, a storm, things we consider big and mighty. Then we think of God as being those big things. The danger in doing that is that we forget that God is incomprehensible, he's beyond our understanding, and to think that we can fully understand who he is is wrong. But though he is so grand and so powerful, he is also completely personal with us. He wants to know us, wants to be in our hearts; he wants us. This is who God is and where faith comes in; trusting what we don't completely understand but having faith that he has what's best for us.
I was recently reading Hebrews 11 and this is the most emphasized point in almost every verse of that chapter: by faith. Everything they did was by faith. It honestly felt like a children's story, like one of those picture books that repeats the same part over and over again but in different situations. Faith is what ties all the stories together; it's the moral of the story. It's what's important, it's what gets you to heaven; it is what God wants from you.
And yet it's always easier said than done. To anyone who's actually reading this I apologize for rambling on about this. It just comes to show that this is really the inner conflict I experience on a day-to-day basis, trusting God and not trusting God. I know I won't always know what will happen next or understand why things are happening, but what's important is that we rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let our reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Remember that he is good. His love endures forever. The promises he made thousands of years ago are promises we can still depend on him to keep today.
It's funny. Two years ago, my year-long motto was trust games. Having to remind myself of something I thought I victoriously accomplished just comes to show that the heart really is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? There will always be room to grow; you'll never stop learning more about yourself or about God. Just when you think you're at 99% of being completely "okay" you'll pull yourself back another 50% and have to work from the beginning.
It's all about perseverance, my friend, aka myself. Don't lose heart - entrust your heart into his hands.
Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
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