Trust Doesn’t Get Analytical!
3/19/06
Trust Is The Foundation For
True Faith!
Over the years I have watched
Christians who worked so hard at having faith with little success because they
didn’t know how to trust.
The definition of trust:
Ÿ
a reliance or resting of
the mind on the integrity of another
Ÿ
confident expectation
Ÿ
to allow someone to do
something without fear of consequences.
Faith is an action word.
Ja. 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is
not accompanied by action, is dead.
Trust involves secure rest
and peace of mind whatever the situation.
Is.
30:15 This is what the Sovereign LORD,
the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in
quietness and trust is your strength....
Even though trust and
faith sound the same, there is a difference, and it’s very important to
understand the difference.
Standing firm in your faith
should never take away your abiding trust in the perfect will of God.
Trying to exercise faith
without being grounded in trust will leave you disheartened, discouraged,
embittered and confused:
2
Sam. 12:15 After Nathan had gone home,
the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became
ill.
16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and
went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground.
17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get
him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with
them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. David's servants
were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, "While
the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us.
How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate."
19 David noticed that his servants were whispering among
themselves and he realized the child was dead. "Is the child dead?"
he asked. "Yes," they replied, "he is dead."
20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had
washed, put on lotions and went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then
he changed his clothes, he went to his own house, and at his request they
served him food, and he ate.
21 His servants asked him, "Why are you acting this
way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is
dead, you get up and eat!"
22 He answered, "While the child was still alive, I
fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let
the child live.'
23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I
bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."
Genuine trust doesn’t try to
figure it out!
If
you tend to be analytical trusting God can be a real challenge!
How can you take three men, Shadrach, Meshach; and Abednego, throw
them into a blazing furnace and not only keep them alive but they won’t even
have the smell of smoke on their clothes?!
Nu.
11:18 “Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in
preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you
wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the LORD
will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five,
ten or twenty days, 20but for a whole month—until it comes out of
your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the LORD, who is
among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”
21But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred
thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole
month!’ 22Would they have enough if flocks and herds
were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea
were caught for them?”
23The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’S
arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for
you.”
The
disciples asked Jesus--how can you take 5 loaves and two fish and feed 5000 men
besides the women an children?
Pr.
3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your
heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your
ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
If peace of mind is a
struggle in your life, the root cause could very well be a lack of trust:
Is.
26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him
whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is
the Rock eternal.
The person who genuinely
trusts the Lord bears fruit in the middle of a drought:
Jer.
17:7 "But blessed is the man who
trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that
sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves
are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to
bear fruit."
Trust is the remedy for fear:
Ps.
56:3 When I am afraid, I will trust in
you.
4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will
not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?
Genuine trust brings
consistency of character:
Ps. 125:1 Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
The Lord longs for us to
trust Him. Trust is one of the greatest
expressions of love we can show the Lord Jesus.
Ps.
50:7 (Living Bible) O my people, listen! For I am your God. Listen! Here are my
charges against you: 8 I have no complaint about the sacrifices you
bring to my altar, for you bring them regularly. 9 But it isn’t
sacrificial bullocks and goats that I really want from you. 10-11 For
all the animals of field and forest are mine! The cattle on a thousand hills!
And all the birds upon the mountains! 12 If I were hungry, I would
not mention it to you—for all the world is mine and everything in it. 13 No,
I don’t need your sacrifices of flesh and blood. 14-15 What I want
from you is your true thanks; I want your promises fulfilled. I want you to trust me in your times of trouble, so I
can rescue you and you can give me glory.
Trust believes from the heart
that God is in control of every aspect of your life.
Ps.
31:14 But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, “You are my God.”
15
My times are in your hands;
You can trust in the Living
God because you know how much He loves you.
There is nothing you can do
to get the Lord to love you anymore than He already does!
Ps.
13:5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
for
he has been good to me.
Ps.
52:8 But I am like an olive tree
flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
for
ever and ever.