Growing in Trust

Even as I sing the beautiful song “Jesus help me to trust you more and more” – I sense that the means for me to grow in trust often represents difficulty. “Ian from the beginning the problem of man has been that he wants to follow his own way, make his own decisions – and when he has ‘success’ pat himself on the back and become more and more ‘self-sufficient’ – So the first step in trust is humility, recognizing that every obstacle and challenge in one’s life is part of My plan and every victory would only be achieved if there was something to overcome. So the means of growing in trust is firstly to recognize My hand in what is happing in your life, the joys and happiness as well as the difficulties and challenges and behind this all lies My goodness expressed in My love. Any pain you feel I feel as well – but also all the victories that bring you closer, I celebrate with you – No one could climb Mt Everest without having trained, trained and trained, experiencing all the pain that goes with that – and then the victory – when you come into My bridal chamber – the victory you will be experiencing will be worth every ‘trust’ muscle you have had to exercise.”

To-day I am reading Psalm 5 and it fits in perfectly with the word on trusting and Jesus had plenty to say to me through it. Why don’t you read it now and hear what He says to you from it before you continue here.

It consists of 5 stanzas. vv 1-3, David comes expectantly to the Lord (in the morning). His request for the Lord to hear his supplication is more an affirmation that he expects that Lord will hear him and respond. *# What is my attitude as I come to the Lord early every morning? Am I really expecting and trusting God to respond?

vv 4-6, He is being faced with huge challenges in the form of enemies who desire his destruction. *# What are the challenges I am facing today and how much of a role does God’s enemy play in this? I remember Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” I am reminded that I need to identify the real enemy in each situation.

vv 7-8, His solution, remembering God’s characteristic of mercy, is to go to God’s house, His holy temple to seek guidance how to act righteously and direct him in the way to move forward. *# Do I hear the invitation of God to David to trust Him to overcome this challenge? Of course in the New Testament era we no longer go to a physical temple to meet with the Lord, but instead we meet Him in Jesus, who has become our temple.

vv 9,10 He focusses again on His enemies, but now asking God to deal with them and give him the victory. *#A clear reminder to surrender every problem to the Lord and trust Him to give you the way out.

vv 11-12,Then he affirms his trust in the Lord by expressing joy and rejoicing which shows he believes in the right outcome from God’s perspective, ending with a reminder to himself that he is now under God’s blessing. *”We have received every blessing in the heavenlies”, says Paul in Ephesians 1:3, but later he still reminds the readers that they should take up the full armour of God, especially the shield of faith, which lies in our recognizing and affirming our identity as being “in Christ”, who is our shield.

So as I trust Jesus for the outcome over our difficulties I need to hand over the situation completely to Him, but that does not mean I become inactive, I still need to act as God guides me in the power of His Spirit.

Lots to think about and ponder, as we meditate on this word to us today from God, affirming to me what he was saying to me earlier about growing in trust. What has He said to you?

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