Trusting in the Trustworthy One
“Faith in God does not mean we get to avoid hard things, but we can be confident that God is with us, caring for us and guiding us along the way. We just need to ask for his help and trust his promise to be our shield.”
When I wrote those words last March, I had no idea what the coming months would have in store.
Larry and I had excitedly said yes to an opportunity to serve with our church and thought our biggest hurdles would be things like long flights, packing challenges and spiritual warfare designed to turn our focus from the purpose of our trip.
I never imagined that, on the very day our team would be beginning the work we had prayed for, Larry and I would be in a pre-op room waiting for my surgery to begin. I didn’t imagine that what started as a weird symptom I wanted to ask the doctor about would be given the name endometrial cancer.
Today, with the hindsight of a few months, I’m rejoicing in the fact we caught the cancer early and my September surgery would be all the treatment needed.
I’m also marveling over the fact that God’s faithfulness has so little to do with our ability to carry out our plans. It’s super important for you to notice that I said OUR plans – as in my plan or your plan.
Prefer to listen to this content on the Unwrapping Rest podccast? Visit Trusting in the Trustworthy One | Unwrapping Rest with Dawn Tolbert
The planner in me
See, the planner in me likes to feel in control of situations.
I like having my to-do lists well organized and categorized with the tasks carefully numbered in the order I will tackle them. Then, I can get down to the work of completing the tasks and marking them off the list. That’s how my things work – in my best-laid, agenda-driven world.
As this new year dawns ahead of us, my over-planner heart is really tempted to kick into high gear.
But the truth is simple. God isn’t interested in me having a firmer grip on my life; in fact, he wants me to let go and trust him.
He’s less concerned about what printed or electronic planner I have my life mapped out in and cares much more about the person I am becoming.
He wants me to relinquish my desire to control the future and trust him with not only the ultimate outcome but with the day-to-day, step-by-step processes and choices that will get me there.
And the there isn’t always the place I first thought either.
When I first shared that I might not be able to make the planned trip with one of the people we would have worked with, she prayed the sweetest prayer. She asked God to use me for his glory whether in the country where they served or right here at home. See, I had a grand agenda of what I thought should happen, but God had a different destination in mind – at least for that period in time. I needed to plan less and trust more.
Trust: Easy to say, hard to do
Trust is one of those words that can be tricky to define.
Merriam-Webster points out that it’s both a noun and a verb. The noun form means “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something” and also “dependence on something future or contingent.” Synonyms are assurance and hope.
The verb form is interesting as well, with definitions including “to rely on the trustfulness or accuracy of,” “to place confidence in or rely on,” and “to permit to stay or go or to do something without fear or misgiving.” Those definitions all address the transitive form of the verb. While you might remember what that means from English class, I had to look it up to be sure it meant the type of verb that requires a direct object – a noun or pronoun to receive the action of the verb. It’s not enough that I believe or entrust or rely on; I need clarity about just who it is that I’m believing, entrusting, relying on, trusting. The intransitive action of this verb adds even more to our understanding as we find definitions that say “to place confidence : depend” and “to be confident : hope.”
Sorry! Didn’t mean to Word Nerd out on you there, but I love the words we’ve collected along the way to trying to more fully understand what “trust” means: assurance, hope, believe, entrust, rely on, depend, and there’s hope again.
Nowhere on that list are words like plan, commit, schedule, or hustle. Don’t get me wrong — spiritual disciplines like prayer and time reading and meditating on God’s Word are truly important, but not as tasks to be conquered. Instead, we should be building a relationship with God, seeking deeper intimacy with him and learning to know his heart and be more like him in our daily lives.
When I trust God to handle things, the responsibility for the outcome shifts from my somewhat achy shoulders to the Promised One that we see described in Isaiah 9:6-7: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
The child promised in that ancient prophesy is the one whose birth we just celebrated during the Christmas season: Jesus.
What a promise!
I could easily spend thousands of more words unpacking what each of those names tells us about the Promised One who came as Emmanuel (which means God with Us) as the baby in Bethlehem. But if we sum it up in just a few words, they would almost surely include reference to words like assurance, hope, believe, entrust, rely on, depend on, and hope again. In John 10:10, Jesus said that he came “that they may have life, and have it to the full.” He proclaims this amazing truth amid a discussion of the Good Shepherd who cares for his sheep and who lays down his life for the sheep – as Jesus did when he died for our sins.
Why would he do that? The answer is just a few pages earlier in the Gospel of John in verse 16 of chapter 3: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Because God loves the world – that means each and every one of us – so much, he sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our wrongdoings (known as sin). He willingly died because of that love and defeated death by rising again in triumph. And he invites us into his family forever! What an amazing promise that is – and it is one that we can TRUST in completely.
Will you trust him?
So, maybe your 2024 hasn’t worked out exactly like you planned. Maybe you’re hurting deeply or dealing with an unexpected diagnosis. Maybe you just feel lost and alone in a world that seems hell-bent against you.
There’s hope in Jesus, who offers us forgiveness, peace, and joy along with eternal fellowship with God.
To receive this amazing gift, we only need to use the ABCs: First we must admit we are sinners and ask God’s forgiveness. Then we believe Jesus is God’s Son, who died on the cross for our sins and become a child of God by receiving Christ. Finally, we confess Jesus is Lord – and not just the Lord or a lord, but our Lord. When we do this, Jesus welcomes us into God’s forever family.
If you’ve never accepted Jesus, you can pray something like this:
God in heaven, I admit that I am a sinner who has done wrong things and that I cannot handle the challenges of life in my own power. Please help me, God. I ask you to forgive me. I believe Jesus is your Son. He died on the cross because he loved me and rose again defeating sin and death in order to save me from my sins. I receive Jesus as my Savoir and today become your child. I trust you. I confess Jesus is Lord of my life, and I praise you and thank you for saving me. In his precious name I pray. Amen.
If you are already part of God’s family, rejoice in the One who is Faithful and True. Thank him for his goodness, mercy, grace, and love, and look for ways to tell others about his faithfulness every opportunity you get.
A Prayer for a New Start
Whether you are reading this post today — on the last day of 2024 or at any day in the future — will you join me in offering this prayer to God?
Lord,
I stop amid the rush and busyness of my day to thank you for your love and care for me. I thank you that you know the hurts I think no one understands. I come to you broken and bruised, worn out from striving and ask you to help me. Carry the load I’m trying to shoulder as I over-plan and seek to control my situation in my own power.
As the psalmist wrote, “I will lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? It comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” Thank you for being a present help in hard times and good times, too. Teach me to rely on you for strength and peace and joy.
I am so grateful for your love, mercy and grace. Great is your faithfulness. I put all my trust in you. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
“You keep him (or her) in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because (s)he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”
