Do You Trust Him?

I’m sitting here with my computer wondering if I should be writing up a blog post or just a quick message to my friend. But I believe that she and I are not the only ones that need this word of encouragement. Many of us are experiencing the same thing but secretly believe we’re the only one. So, while we sit and fight private battles, the enemy is in a corner watching and laughing as we beat ourselves up, and God is bidding, “Give it to me.”

Anyone who has been a Christian for more than a day or so has most likely heard Proverbs 3:5-6, which reads in the New King James Version (NKJV), “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”  The New International Version (NIV) has the word “submit” in verse six where our previous version says acknowledge. I think the wording, of both versions, have left some of us confused. Let me explain why.

When someone tells me to acknowledge another person, I recognize the person’s presence or perhaps their contribution or significance. I acknowledge they are there and are important. That is me. However, when I go to Merriam-Webster to learn the actual definition of acknowledge, it is not to recognize the individual but recognize the rights, authority, or status of.  I suppose this is why the NIV renders that word as submit, which is defined as to yield to governance or authority. Once we have acknowledged the authority of God in our life, we are to yield to His governance. We’re to do as the Amplified Version says and, “know, recognize, and acknowledge Him.”

Now to my friend and I and the others of you who are probably dealing with your own similar issues. Are you doing what these verses command? Think about it and be honest. Verse five says trust in the Lord with all your heart. Are you trusting Him? Do you have an assured reliance on the character or ability of God or is He just there? I like the analogy of God as a spare tire for this point. If God is in your life and pulled out only when there’s an emergency, He’s a spare tire and you’re not trusting Him. If He’s your “co-pilot” you’re not trusting Him with all your heart. If you are not believing, without doubt, that He is who He says He is and He can and will do what He says He will, you’re not trusting with all of your heart. If you are a strong-willed, capable, independent individual who knows how to take care of yourself, there’s a good chance you are not obeying Proverbs 3:5. And if you are not obeying Proverbs 3:5, what are the odds you’re obeying verse six?

My friend has experienced tremendous hardships in her life in the last few years. I cannot even begin to imagine how she has managed all she has been through; but God. She knows Jesus personally and she loves Him with all of her heart. I’m certain she would have lost her mind by now if this were not true. And the struggles for her are not over. She’s still going through. But she’s going through with Jesus and His joy is her strength. Still, the question remains, is she living in obedience to Proverbs 3:5-6?

I ask this because this is what the Spirit has been asking me. There are some prayers I have out there that have yet to be answered and, I being the capable and intelligent woman that I am, I tried to make some things happen. God gave me an excellent mind and I felt it was my duty, my responsibility to use it to and find solutions to my problems. But that is not what God told ME to do. His word to you may be different as far as the specifics go, but for me, I was instructed to wait and trust. Waiting and trusting does not include trying to figure it out. Waiting and trusting does not entail worrying. Waiting and trusting does not mean exercising my intellect. Waiting and trusting means waiting and trusting – period.

My friend has been so much to so many for so long that I fear she has forgotten how to fully surrender and allow God to be God. She hasn’t turned away from Him, nor is she purposely dethroning Him in her life. My thought is she was graced to do hard things for a season, and she is still trying to continue in those things though the season has changed. There are still hard days before her, but there may be a different grace or a different plan of God to get her through.  Read 2 Samuel 5:17-25 to better understand what I mean here. Do not allow familiarity to keep you in a place God has moved on from. Trust Him and yield fully to Him so that when He moves, you recognize the shift and are prepared to move with Him 

As for me and those of you like me, we have to remember we are what we are only by the grace of God. Apart from Him we can do nothing – except maybe make a mess. We cannot go ahead of Him nor can we lag behind Him. We have to abide IN Him if we want to fulfill our purpose in the earth and live a successful, God-glorifying life. In all our ways, we must acknowledge, surrender, submit to Him. He knows our beginning from the end, and He knows every step we’re to take in between. It doesn't matter how many degrees I have or how much I have accomplished, apart from God it is nothing. Even if I manage to squeak out success on my own, it won't last. 

There is so much more I could say on this matter; that I want to say on the matter. But what I want most is to have each of you seek God’s face. Seek Him for yourself and for your family – for the big stuff and the little stuff and even the seemingly inconsequential stuff. Whatever is happening in your life, or perhaps is not happening, KNOW that God knows how to work it out. Trust in Him with ALL your heart and lean not to your own understanding; in ALL your ways acknowledge/submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.