How do you trust God?

It’s a question that’s difficult to answer.  And it’s what won my recent survey of “where do we go now in this blog”.  That’ll teach me!  🙂

In some ways, it’s as simple as saying, “Just do it”.  But that’s not very helpful, even if it is true.

Over the next four weeks, we’re going to look at Proverbs 3:5-6 and seek to find some answers to that question: “How do we trust God?”.

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.   
Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV

D. L. Moody said, “Trust in yourself, and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in your friends, and they will die and leave you; trust in reputation, and some slanderous tongue may blast it; but trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity.”

If we believe that to be so as Christians, then it is to our direct benefit to trust Him.  And let’s set this out there: we’re not talking about saving trust in Jesus.  We’re talking about that process of walking through life as a Christian and learning to intentionally, consciously rely on Him and trust Him—even when He doesn’t make sense.

Let’s look closely at the first phrase of these verses: “Trust in the LORD”.

Did you catch the “small caps” on the word “LORD” (In the font of my website, I can’t show the small caps but you can see them in most electronic versions and all print versions.)?  This is the English translator’s way of showing us this is a translation of God’s name from Hebrew (the original language of most of the Old Testament).  This is the Name of the Covenant with His people.  This is not a generic “god”; this is THE God: Yahweh (or Yahveh).

And we are called to trust Him.  This word translated “trust” means “to have confidence so that we’re confident, bold, secure, stable, safe, or carefree”.

Stay with me.

Metaphorically, this Hebrew phrase means to “run for refuge to Yahweh”.

His Name reminds us of His covenant with us.
His word is absolutely trustworthy.
His promises are absolutely guaranteed.

As such, we accept Him as trustworthy and believe his word.  This is why we’re commanded to run to Him.  We’re not just running away from trouble.  No, we are running to our Refuge!

The first step to trusting God is this, dear one: Run to Him for refuge.

When you feel things closing in and doubt creeps in, run to Him—pray and worship!
When you feel “logic” is overtaking your faith—declare His promises!
When you feel He is making no sense whatsoever—remember Who He is!

Run to Him for refuge.

Praise Him in the truth of Psalm 32:7 (NIV): “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”

 

 

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Want more like this?  Consider my book: 31 Days of Spiritual Wisdom: A Month in the Proverbs.  It is often said: knowledge knows a snake is in the grass and wisdom is staying out of the grass.  While that creates a good working definition, there is undoubtedly more to applying knowledge than that.   Moving through a selection of verses from a chapter of Proverbs for every day of the month, I walk readers through a journey of spiritual formation applicable to everyday life.  The goal? Knowing how to apply the wisdom of Scripture so we grow in our faith, become wiser, and show the world the life-changing power of Jesus.