Saturday, February 16, 2013

Five Bible Verses on Trust

1. Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Trust is a huge part of scripture. But what does it mean? How can we trust God? Proverbs here says trust in the Lord with all your heart! Our hearts are easily swayed as humans. In our spiritual journeys we are to throw ourselves into love with the Lord. Don't hold back! Personally I didn't feel it right away on my journey. I struggled going to church and connecting truly to God. That's normal, very normal. If you're early in your journey just trust that God will add that love to you one step at a time. He helps us learn to love him. We just have to seek him!

2. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord , plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

The Lord knows the plans he has for us. He has great plans for us as long as we follow him! You may question if things will work out because before conversion you constantly faced death in destruction. And this was true for me as well. I lost faith in everything as God brought me to rock bottom. And early in my spiritual journey with Christ I still wondered, well God can do anything how do I know he won't just have me step in front of a bus? That isn't what happens in our lives with Christ. I was thinking of things that happen to non believers, and to people that God knows will never come to him. God protects his own! Jeremiah 29:11 was a great source of hope for me during my struggles. I kept it as my Facebook cover for my timeline so I'd constantly be reminded that this won't last forever, this will pass. God's plan for me isn't destruction, it's for good things! We can achieve some happiness here. God has a future for us. And this passage is a great reminder for when you're in that dark time of trial and you literally can't see past it. Because God can see past it, and he reminds us that we will have good things in this passage.

3. Psalm 56:3-4 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

This message in Psalms tells us that when we're afraid we should stop, and think. It's always good to stop and just slow down when afraid. I recall an experience I had early in my faith. For a moment I truly felt a place of absolutely no fear. I knew at that moment that I never had to worry about a single thing again because I was saved through Christ. I knew God would take care of me. It was like God was giving me a piece of what it would be like to truly trust God. Trust is a very hard thing and time and again humans harm our trust. At the end of the passage the question is asked: "What can flesh do to me?" This is a great reminder that this life is temporary and no harm can come to our souls aside from being lead astray. So why fear earthly things?

4. Psalm 13:5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

This is another passage from Psalms about trust. David had incredible trust in God. David also had incredible love and excitement for God. We ought to try and mimic that! This passage reminds us that God truly really does love us. He loves us a lot. He loves us so much we can't even understand it. It is also said that we shall rejoice in our salvation. We ought to be happy because God loves us so much. Through all these actions we grow in trust for God.

5. Psalm 40:4 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

Finally in Psalms 40:4 we see that we ought not to trust the proud. We can trust humans, trust is a good thing, but watch for pride. Pride leads so many astray. Pride is what keeps so many humans from ever approaching God despite the disaster of their lives. They can't humble themselves. If we see pride in our fellows it should set off warning signs. Pride comes before the fall. Blessed in the man who makes God his trust. The more we trust God the more he rewards us. This is completely true in my life. The closer I get to God the better things seem to get. Persecution does also happen, and it's never easy. But it can be joyful and peaceful too.