Trusting and Believing

I must start with my usual spill, but I don’t think I could stress it enough-Do not trust what I say. Look up what God’s Word says about these things and trust Him alone!

I had a few verses I had noticed on trust, along with a few thoughts I’d like to share. I’d like you to focus more on the verses than my thoughts, though. The first is one most of us have heard over and over.

‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding.’

Proverbs 3:5

This was one I would sort of skim over, after all I knew it by heart ( or so I thought). I thought that I had already received everything there was to receive from it. Same message every time. Like an overplayed CD. But then I was tested, and I found I was very deficient in trust. This verse I found both encouraging and instructive. Not only ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart,‘ (Italics mine) but also ‘do not lean on your own understanding.’ All my “understanding”, what I “think” I know can’t hold anyway weight upon it.

Transferring my trust from myself to God is a pretty hard thing. And the passage I have found to really captivate my interest and speak to me in this matter is Luke chapter 1. There are two verses that stuck out to me, but I’d like to share a few more so it all makes sense. In one of the two verses the angel, Gabriel, is speaking to Zacharius. The other is Elizabeth, Zacharius’ wife, speaking to Mary, the mother of Jesus. In both verses the individuals (Zacharius and Mary) have heard astounding news from Gabriel. Zacharius heard that his barren wife (vs. 7) was to bear a son (vs. 13). Mary heard that she, a virgin (vs. 27), would bear the Son of God (vs. 31-32). But their responses were different. In verse 18 we have Zacharius’response: ‘Zacharius said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.”‘ Luke 1:18 And Gabriel responded in verses 19 and 20. Verse 20 is one of the two verses I mentioned before. ‘”And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”‘ Luke 1:20 Mary, however, had a different reaction. She had a question of her own (vs. 34), but she believed God. Her response demonstrates her trust. ‘And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.’ Luke 1:38 So here comes the second verse I promised. This is one that blesses me each time I read it. It makes trusting God clearly the only thing to do. Here Elizabeth is speaking to Mary: ‘”And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”‘ Luke 1:45 Blessed. Wow! Mary believed God and so she was blessed. It didn’t say that it wouldn’t happen if she didn’t believe. But she did believe that it would be fulfilled. Zacharius did not, and so he was mute until the day of his son’s circumcision (vs. 64). His reaction was not to believe, yet it still was fulfilled. The tricky thing is, it is easy to believe after the fulfillment, but beforehand it is so hard! Like it says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 ‘for we walk by faith, not by sight-’ Believing God takes faith, and faith seems to have an element of trust in it. But I don’t want to go too far. Let me just say that there are only benefits for trusting in the Lord, no downsides. After all, God is a good God- the only God.

‘Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Hmm. Good and Faithful. Personally I can think of no other I would trust.