Trusting is often one of the most difficult things to do as human beings. I remember an exercise at a camp that I attended years ago, in which I was required to wear a blindfold and be totally dependent on a fellow camper, as I was lead around the camp grounds. She told me when to step up, when to take a large step at a gap and she guided me around walls and through doors. Initially the exercise was extremely difficult for me, and it took all of my will power to keep my hands from ripping off the blindfold. As time passed and I noticed that she was not going to let me hurt myself, it became less and less difficult, and I gradually began to trust her leading. It’s the same way with our walk with the Lord. The longer we allow Him to lead us around the ‘camp grounds’ of life, the more we recognize that He is not going to harm us, and we are better able to trust Him. It is necessary though, that we ask Him for the strength required to keep our hands from ripping off the blindfold. The truth is with or without the blindfold we can’t see tomorrow or even an hour from now, so it makes a lot of sense to rely completely on the One who holds tomorrow in His hands. 

God knows how difficult it is for us to trust, especially if we have been disappointed by people or circumstances, so in His word He constantly reminds us that we can trust Him. Proverbs 3:5,6 admonishes us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding….” More often than not, we put our faith in ourselves, and in what we can perceive with our senses. God wants us to rely on Him, to go to Him first with everything. That doesn’t mean that we stop using our brains and our God given ability to think and reason, we simply need to be careful that we don’t become self reliant and forget how desperately we need Him. Make it a habit to be God reliant. 

We sometimes become stressed and overwhelmed because we put our trust in our finite minds that can’t see tomorrow. We tell ourselves, ‘I have to take that extra job and work overtime every day’. We neglect our family time, our time with the Lord and jeopardize our health, all in an attempt to make ends meet. At the risk of sounding ’simple’, in situations like this, we need to trust God and remember that we serve the same God, who fed the large crowd of people with five loaves of bread and two fish, who rained manna from heaven, who parted the Red Sea and allowed the Israelites to cross on dry land, who healed the sick and raised the dead. Yes the God we serve is mighty, believe what He says. 

If you are in a situation where you seem to be out of answers, and your prayers seem to be unanswered. Trust Him, cry out to him expecting an answer, He will give you wisdom and direction. God’s word says, “So don’t worry …, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.’ (Matthew 6:31-32). It also says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:33) 

When we fail to trust God we call him a liar, we say His words are not true or don‘t apply to us, for whatever reason. Sometimes we subconsciously convince ourselves that God really doesn’t want to bless us. Our circumstances, or words that people have spoken to us cause us to believe that we are not deserving of His love, and He doesn’t care enough about us to hear our cries. So we look at others around us who are being blessed and we envy them, or we sit and daydream about what it would be like if…. 

We need to stop “depending on our own understanding.” Stop believing lies, sent to cause us to fear and doubt God’s love. God loves us so much that He sent His Only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross so that we could live abundant lives. Whatever we need God can supply. He may not rain down manna for us to eat, but He will give us favor at work so that we can get a promotion or a pay increase to pay for our ‘daily bread‘. He may not send a thousand dollars in the mail, but he will give us ideas to start a business, and bless us when we follow His leading in simple obedience. Don’t be lazy and sit around waiting for your blessing to fall from the sky. Trust God and step out in faith believing that your Heavenly Father who loves you will not abandon you. 

Too often we allow fear to paralyze us: for example, we’ve been praying for years, for God to allow us to start a business…but we don’t do anything to accomplish it. God allows us to run into a Realtor, who strikes up a conversation in the supermarket checkout line about an office building that is available for rent in the same area that we want to start our business, and instead of pursuing the conversation, we think to ourselves ‘I could never afford to rent space in that location’. God allows us to read a newspaper article about Government grants being offered to entrepreneurs, and instead of researching further and taking a grant writing course, we ignore the opportunity. God leads a friend to send us an email about free business management courses being offered, as non credit courses by a University, but instead of signing up, we find a million reasons why we can’t. In this example God provides multiple opportunities for us to start the business but we miss them all, because we expect God to send us the fully functional business, gift wrapped with a bow, and already making great profits. In each instant the fear of failing or of stepping out into the unknown, caused by our failure to trust God, and sometimes just plain old laziness, can block our blessings. 

God says to us repeatedly, trust Me, trust Me, trust Me. God loves you and cares about you, so regardless of how difficult your situation seems, you can trust Him to come through for you. Be expectant, and step out in faith. Don’t be like the lazy person in Proverbs 26:13 who allows fear to stop him from acting. Look for God’s blessings, so that you won’t miss them when they come your way. Trust Him and He will supply, He will answer, He will perform miracles on your behalf and give you favor with others. Take an example from the widow at Zarephath in 1Kings 17, who used her last bit of flour and cooking oil to prepare a meal for Elijah. Because of her simple obedience, “there was always enough flour and olive oil left…, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.” Later when her son died the prophet resurrected him. 

Your God is the same God who provided for the widow, and stood with the three Hebrew boys when they were thrown into the furnace. Your God, heals the lame and opens blind eyes today, he multiplies money in bank accounts and cures cancer, he gives us promotions and salary increases that cause us to marvel. Trust Him, pray and build your faith by reading His word and fellowshipping with people who are like minded, and see Him perform the supernatural on your behalf. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart:do not depend on your own understanding….” Proverbs 3: 5 & 6 (NLT)

Originally published on June 15th, 2007