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"When our lives are entrusted to God, and we live in His presence daily, we discover that trust in God dispels our fears and anxieties, and provides us peace, joy, and optimism in their place."
by Dr Ed Jordan, pastor of Gwynn’s Island Baptist Church
How important is trust in your life? Most of us prefer to downplay the role of trust in our lives, but it is actually an essential at almost every level. We trust that the floor will hold us up when we crawl out of bed every morning. We trust that our lungs will function all day on autopilot. We trust that we will get paid for the work we have done. We trust that the green light facing us at an intersection means that the cross traffic has a red light. Trust means to rely upon something or someone, to be confident that he, she, or it will fulfill their role in a reliable manner. Trust really is an essential part of each day, even if we never pause to think about it.
This week I was reading Jeremiah 17:5-8, which points out that there are basically two major beings that we humans trust; we trust humans, and we trust God.
In Jeremiah 17:5-6 (CSB) we read: “Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind. He makes human flesh his strength, and his heart turns from the LORD.” The passage goes on to describe the outcome of the life that trusts solely in humans, the life that substitutes humans or human organizations in the place of God. Such a life is stunted, and ends up barely surviving the harsh realities of life. Describing someone who makes himself or other humans the object of his trust, God says through Jeremiah that such a person will always be thirsty, dissatisfied, and cursed by insecurities, fears, and anxieties. It is a self-induced curse.
Self-made people put their trust in themselves, in their abilities, their determination, their ingenuity, etc. This category expands when we put our trust in human organizations, be they schools, businesses, governments, humanistic religions, to name a few. But all human organizations have one thing in common: they are manned by humans who all have strengths and weaknesses. Humans are finite in wisdom, resources, abilities, influence and power. No human can be trusted unconditionally and indefinitely to be without flaw. Humans have little control over the events and circumstances that crop up in life. The Bible says that we humans have all sinned and fallen short of the perfection of God. In short, all human organizations are flawed, because all humans are flawed.
Does this mean we should not trust anyone? No. We need to trust one another to have any hope of having a smooth functioning, and healthy life. But trust requires honesty and being a trustworthy person, as well has surrounding ourselves with those who are trustworthy. Neither we ourselves nor those close to us are ever perfect, but we can treat others with worth and value, live honestly, and prove to be reliable.
Instead of putting all our trust in humanity, God encourages us to choose the fully functional life which is described in Jeremiah 17:7-8: “The person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream; it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.”
God is faithful and absolutely trustworthy. Our trust will flourish when God is the one we trust with all aspects of our life. When we trust in the Lord, and entrust our future and daily lives to Him, we will survive and thrive even in times of drought. We can lie down in peace, knowing that tonight and tomorrow are in God’s all powerful hands. Nothing will happen that God cannot empower us to face.
When our lives are entrusted to God, and we live in His presence daily, we discover that trust in God dispels our fears and anxieties, and provides us peace, joy, and optimism in their place.
God never runs out of supplies, is never outsmarted by anyone, nor is there any power anywhere in the universe that can defeat Him and His plans. God says the one who entrusts his or her life to Him, and is confident that He will bring them through everything, is blessed.
We live in turbulent times, and have experienced the breaking of trust over and over again. The way forward is to transfer your life and trust from trusting man to save and deliver you, to instead trusting God to save you and preserve you. Will your life and living be proven cursed or blessed? You decide what the answer will be for your life.
Choose wisely, and become blessed.
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