So, I’d like to think that I am a trusting kind of person. I admit there have been times that I can be overly cautious around some groups of people or individuals. But I also have made the mistake of trusting in others too much and have been hurt.
But I wonder if that has affected my ability to trust God. I know you might be thinking “Wait, like trusting God should come easy for a believer” And I agree with you; it should. But can you actually admit that sometimes you might struggle with trust?
What I mean is that we all have at one time or another told God that we had the best way to go. We asked bold prayers for God to answer, in our way of course. Not necessarily in God’s way, or in His timing. And we were probably let down. We struggled to understand why our heartfelt, fervent prayer wasn’t answered. At least not in the way we had expected.
I have also found that when I am seeking to understand and find answers to the whys in my life, God always challenges me with the same Bible verse. Does this happen to you? Or is it just me? There a couple of verses that just seem to bring out guilt. Actually, its more of conviction from the Holy Spirit than guilt. But, it troubles me, none the less.
One of the verses is Proverbs 3: 5 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.” (NIV) It seems pretty straightforward. Except I always feel bad for the second part- leaning not on my understanding. I know I do that more than I should. I am a person who tries to figure out everything. And plan everything out.
But, quite often I will find whenever I am seeking God for direction in decision making, this verse will pop up. It might be from a daily devotional, or from a sermon, or just the verse of the day sent to my e-mail address. And it trips me up. I begin the question which understanding is mine and which is God’s. Which way should I go? Am I trying to figure it out on my own?
Well, this week it happened again and once again, my favorite verse came up. Except this time I began to look at it differently and wonder if God was trying to tell me something other than to not lean on my own understanding. Maybe I had been thinking of this verse all wrong.
Maybe I should break it into two parts. First, trust in the Lord, than not lean on my own understanding. I was trying to avoiding leaning without doing the trusting first.
It was if a light bulb went off in my mind, and I understood. I needed to focus on the trust. And I have to ask myself, “Am I really trusting God in this situation?” Or am I trying to figure it all out?
It is similar to following a recipe. If you are a baker or cook, than you know that there is a list of ingredients first, than the directions for assembling the dish. If you randomly combine the ingredients, the recipe won’t work. You have to follow each step in the order listed.
So, in my case with Proverbs 3:5, I was trying to jump ahead and focus on not leaning first- something like jumping ahead on a recipe. So, I struggled with the verse, and felt bad, for not being able to avoid my over thinking.
It sounds simple, but consider whether God has been speaking to you through a particular verse. Does it have different parts to the verse? Try focusing on the individual parts and consider the meaning.
In my case, I am trying to focus on the trust part, knowing that God has my best, that is HIS best interest at heart, for me. I am not God and only have a limited ability to understand what lies ahead for my life. There is so much out of my control. So, first things first; trust. Than the more I learn to trust Him, the less likely I will panic and over think everything. God Bless -Nancy
Moving Forward 