Choosing to Trust Again





“Comfort & peace never come from anything we know about ourselves, 
but only & always from what we know about Him.”
Hannah Whitall Smith


Years ago, I read something profound in a book by Hannah Whitall Smith.  It was either The Secret to a Happy Christian Life or The God of All Comfort.  Both EXCELLENT books by the way!   She said that we all exercise trust in so many things, except the One who is Trustworthy.

We trust that when we sit in a chair, it will hold us up.  We trust that the 450 ton Boeing 747 is going to rise up into the air and stay up there.  We trust that the driver coming in the opposite direction is not going to veer into us.  We trust that when we go to a restaurant, the food will be safely handled when prepared.  (Unless you're like me and have had one too many food poisoning incidents after dining at a restaurant and have developed a bit of a phobia about eating out, lol, but I digress...)

I mean think about it, if we didn't naturally trust all circumstances that we find ourselves in, we would be paralyzed with fear.

I would say, however, most of us struggle from time to time with trusting people we know. 

Isn't that interesting.  We naturally trust circumstances outside of our control as described above --  probably because we have little prior knowledge of the situation.  I'm sure if we went into the kitchen of a restaurant and saw one of the cooks coughing all over the place, distrust about our food prep would overtake.  Or if we saw the car ahead of us swerving, we would not trust them not to drive into our car.  Or if we saw that the chair was made with brittle nails, we wouldn't trust it to hold us up.

With relationships though, we may know that persons prior misdeeds or unreliability causing our trust to be broken.

As Christians, we all say that we have "Trusted" Jesus to be our Lord and Savior.  Yet at times we can act like our trust ended there, especially when we are fearful and filled with doubt.

Remember I said that prior knowledge of untrustworthy situations can break our trust.  Well in the case of our Heavenly Father, prior knowledge of who He is and what He has done should establish unwavering trust.

But if we are being honest here, it doesn't always does it?

There is Bible account after Bible account where God has done mighty things, from the Old Testament heroes of the faith to the New Testament disciples, yet doubt and mistrust still entered in.  Forgetfulness?  Maybe.

Or is trust a choice...

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and 
every day have sorrow in my heart?...  
But I trust in your unfailing love."  
Psalm 13:2,5

Even King David wrestled with his circumstances, but he chose to trust in God even when he didn't feel like it.

I was blown away by this thought of "choosing to trust" God.   In my head I'm like, "Nooo, isn't that a sin??"  I mean I've read many marriage articles that say often times we must "choose to love" our spouses, but the Lord, aren't we supposed to love and trust Him without question?!

I recently read through Exodus and talk about an exercise in constant mistrust of God!  Yet God was so very patient with the Israelites.

And the Lord is patient with us.  The Lord understands our weaknesses and uses it to show us His unfailing love and mercy over and over and over and over again.

Daily, hour by hour, minute by minute, we have a choice to trust in the Knowledge of the character of God Almighty with all the peace and comfort that brings.

Jesus tells us, Do not let your hearts be troubled.
John 14:1

The Lord told Moses that Pharoah would harden his heart with each of the plagues so that His works could be multiplied.  But the Israelites saw Pharoah's hardness of heart as repeated failures by Moses and by God to turn the situation around.  They were fearful and became angry with Moses and ultimately with God.  Yet God had assured Moses that it would all work out in the end, and that He would lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.  Most especially God promised that He would be with them every step of the way.

"Peace is not the absence of danger, but the presence of God."


Choose this day whom you will serve.
Joshua 24:15a

If you find yourself wrestling like the Psalmist David, it's ok.  We all wrestle from time to time.  Tell God your troubles, and then tell Him you Trust Him to work it all out.

You see, WE have the same promise that was just as true for Moses as it was for the people of Judah...

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you." For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
Isaiah 43:1b-3a

And it IS all going to work out in the end when we meet Jesus in Paradise...


DAILY CHOOSE TO TRUST HE WHO IS TRUSTWORTHY


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Comments

  1. This was JUST what I needed to read today. Whew. Our lives are entering into a phase now where we truly are in "waters to swim in". God is showing us more and more that there are levels in trusting God. I reckon it to the man in Ezekiel who measured 1,000 cubits and it was ankle deep, then another 1,000, and it was knee deep, then loin deep, then waters to swim in. We are now launching into "waters to swim in", and I truly can say, I have never been here before. Your precious words today reminded me of God's track record, and if He could be trusting to bring me through all these 51 years, surely He can be trusted to carry me through the rest of my days, however long they may be. I am SO blessed to have your dear presence in my life, sweet friend. You continually encourage and bless and inspire me to keep pressing on. May God bless you abundantly! Sending much love to you, and praying for you and your prayer request every, single day.

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    1. Hi Cheryl! Praising God that this post came at just the right time. I love when the Lord does that! Also praising God that you can look back with joy at "God's track record" knowing that He will be with you. One of the first Bible verses I memorized was, "When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you." Isaiah 43:2 What a great and loving God we have!

      You are a blessing to me too dear friend. Your visits always edify me!

      Your prayers mean more to me than I could ever express. Thank you.

      Sending you much love and gratitude.

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  2. Karen, such truth in this post. Glad we're neighbors at Anita's today!

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    1. Susan, I'm so glad you were my neighbor! :-) Thanks for visiting.

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  3. What a beautifully written truth. God is trust worthy. Yet, often we trust everything else more quickly. I find myself speaking like the father in Mark 9 who honestly said to Jesus, Lord I believe, help me now my unbelief.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words.

      Ohh, that is probably the verse in the Bible that I relate to the most! Indeed, help my unbelief!

      Thanks so much for visiting.

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  4. I love this point of choosing to trust God! We can be really hard on ourselves when things like that don't come easily, but God understands the desires of our hearts. Thanks for this beautiful article!

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    1. Hi Emily, You are welcome! And thank you for your kind words. :-)

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  5. Yes, daily we need to remind ourselves that God is trustworthy and faithful and we need to choose to trust not doubt. Thanks for this reminder today! Blessings to you! I'm your neighbor at #TuneInThursday.

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    1. Hi Gayl, You are very welcome! So glad you were my neighbor today. Thanks for visiting. :-)

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  6. Peace is not the absence of danger- but the presence of God! Amen! This was a beautifully written article. I have been thinking long and hard about this topic of trust over the last few days. This was just perfect!

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    1. Hi Rachel, Thank you for your kind words.

      Praising God that you found a timeliness to the message here at my humble blog. :-)

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  7. Wonderful post! Sharing it on Twitter. Blessings to you!

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    1. Hi Sarah, Thank you for your kind words. And I appreciate so much the share on Twitter. :-)

      Blessings to you too!

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  8. Amen! I'm almost done reading the Psalms (it's taken me over a year to study each one :)), and my takeaway is that God appreciates our honesty. And trusting him with our honest feelings is a great place to start a relationship!

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    1. Ohh! The Psalms would be such a rich in-depth study. I like that take-away. :-)

      Thanks for visiting!

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  9. Just getting caught up after a busy Sunday. This is an excellent post, Karen. My husband and I spent some time reflecting on God's past (and current) work in our lives this morning. Why do we sometimes seem almost surprised when He answers prayer when He has always proven Himself to be trustworthy? We of little faith sometimes.

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    1. Hi Julie, Thank you so much for your kind words.

      I think I wrote a post about that the first year of blogging. I have acted surprised as well to answered prayer.

      "Lord , I believe. Help my unbelief!"

      Thanks for visiting.

      Blessings,

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