I'm Done Trusting God...

In this Christian Devotional Blog, you will find the idea of trusting God is monumental. Placing your confidence in an invisible being with a documented track record dating back thousands of years seems farfetched. Throw in the current state of the world with all its madness, and trusting God seems more like an exercise in insanity than one in faithfulness. Oh, and that documented track record? The Bible - yes, that thing is filled with stories that’ll make anybody run from the “benefits” of trusting in the LORD; it doesn’t seem as if this form of dependence is realistic, does it?

Take a chair, for example. I know that, for the most part, when I sit down, the chair behind me will fulfill its purpose of supporting my weight; I can trust in chairs without wavering; as a matter of fact, I’m writing this piece on the rocking chair in my daughter’s room. But trusting God? Hmm, I don’t know, man. That’s a tough one.

We pray and believe God for something. We trust that He’ll do it. We know He’s a God who can do all but fail; we know our God can do anything on our behalf. But nothing happens, right? in some cases, our circumstances reflect the total opposite of what we prayed for, right?! “God, how can I trust you when you’ve let me down so much?” is a question many Believers have asked before. It’s a question that requires a sincere response. Here’s mine...

Let’s go back to our chair example. We’re confident that when we sit down, the chair will fulfill its purpose by supporting our weight, right? But where does that confidence come from? Why do we so blindly trust this man-made object? The first reason is consistency. We’ve sat down thousands of times in our lives, and the success rate has been near 100% (except for a couple pranks); the reward far outweighs the risk. Secondly, we are aware of the chair’s purpose. Since we know the purpose of a chair is to support the weight of our bodies, we sit down; our desire to “take a load off” aligns with the chair’s purpose to support that load. And herein lies the human difficulty with trusting the LORD - a distorted perception of God’s purpose as they pertain to our desires; a distortion that skews the reality of His perfect track record.

Joseph made a surprising declaration to his brothers in response to their fear of retaliation - “What you intended for evil, the LORD intended for good...” (Genesis 50:20). Proverbs encourages us to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart... acknowledge Him in all you do, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6). John tells us, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us... (1 John 5:14). But Proverbs 19:21 says it best, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” What am I getting at? Simply this - trusting in the LORD is not for the purpose of seeing our will be done; trusting in the LORD is for the purpose of seeing His will be done.

When we go to God, we must go with the expectation and confidence that He will fulfill His purpose; the same way we do when we sit down in that chair. God’s purpose is whatever He pleases - it’s a wonderful yet humbling (fear inducing) purpose. When we go to God in prayer, do we go with a heart that welcomes His sovereignty? That is, does our desire to trust the LORD align with His purpose to do whatever He pleases? Read that again. If we’re going to God with the desire to get whatever we want, then here’s a tough reality - God is not the man for the job. If you desire to only get what you want, you’re looking for a genie, not God.

I’m done trusting God... for my own will, that is. Rather, as hard as it’s been, I’m going to the LORD with the expectation and confidence that He’ll do whatever He pleases. In some weird way, it’s reassuring to me. Why? Because it takes the pressure off trying to manipulate my circumstances toward achieving the desired outcome. I’m learning to let God be God regardless of what they may look like; I pray the same for you too...

God bless you