Trust in the Lord
“You will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26:3)
This text relates to this hour of uncertainty. Practice the principle and enjoy the peace.
Solomon used the Hebrew word “batach” for trust. It is a word meaning complete surrender. It literally meant to lie helpless, face down. It pictures a servant who is ready to obey his master’s command, or a defeated soldier completely yielding to the conquering general. Thus, trust means to yield to our Lord, ready to serve Him. It means to be reliant on Him.
The person whose mind is on God is promised peace. A mind stayed on Him is one mindful of God and His word and is consistently reliant on Him. It is not an on again – off again, herky-jerky type of reliance.
The option to not trust Him may result in the clouds that overshadow you swooping in and shrouding you with confusion.
Those who trust the Lord are promised “perfect peace,” not just peace, but perfect peace. There is a bonus, He will “keep you in perfect peace.” It is an ongoing thing. It comes from a calm confidence in the Lord.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5)
Trusting God with all your heart causes some people anxiety, fearful that though they desire to do so there may be some reservation. Trust in God with all your heart refers to a heart that does not purposely and knowingly reject God’s will. Relax if there is no deliberate mistrust of God in your heart.
A person leaning on a cane for support is a picture of a person trusting God.
When we acknowledge to Him our ways, He guides us in His ways.
If there is a current event causing you anxiety, mentally take it to the Lord, submit yourself to Him, tell Him you trust Him to take charge and relieve you of responsibility for it. Before concluding such a prayer pause and meditate on what you just did. Confirm it.
When you do, you will be “transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
If you were to ask a person to do a certain thing within a given time, and when they went to do it they would find it already done by you. That person might well conclude he didn’t trust me to do it in that he did it himself. Likewise, in this case if you ask the Lord to relieve you of a matter and He were to see you have continued doing it would give the Lord cause to feel you didn’t trust Him. Don’t send Him such a signal.
In all of life He has you in training for service and rewards. Let Him use your circumstance to allow you to demonstrate your trust of Him. Life is your school house. The circumstance you are confronting is your lesson for today.
A better understanding of trust is found in synonyms for it: assurance, confidence, certainty, dependence, reliance, and sureness.
Never be afraid to trust an unknown situation to a knowing, loving God. Pray and leave the worrying to God. He can handle it.
He is trustworthy. You can put your whole life in His hand. Trust Him to do what He knows is best, and at a time He knows is best. God has it all figured out —- trust Him.
In Our Hour of Angst
Angst is defined in the dictionary as “a profound feeling of generalized anxiety or dread.”
Now, you know why I chose it instead of worry? In effect, angst is a worry on steroids. Circumstances lately have compounded worry for some. What are we to do about it? God chose Simon Peter, a character who might well have been a living clinic on worry had he not found an antidote for it to write,
“…casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (I Peter 5:7)
Peter was a fisherman, and knew the language of the profession, chose a term used by seamen, “casting,” to describe an overloaded ship having to throw some of its cargo overboard to survive a storm. That is a beautiful graphic describing what we are to throw overboard, “our care,” and where to throw it, “upon Him,” Jesus. You can be confident He has the compassion and capacity to handle it, so do it.
An old hymn has this line to describe it.
“All your anxieties, all your cares, take them to the Lord and leave them there.”
This makes it clear that once you take them there, you are to leave them there. To not leave them there implies you don’t trust Him or you don’t think He has the capacity to handle them, as well as you. The fact you have angst indicates you think that by worrying you can resolve an issue. It’s presence indicates you can’t. The fact He has cared for the cares of legions through the centuries proves He can.
Visualize what it is that is causing your angst. Once you have identified, analyze what if anything you can do about it. If there is something you can do about it, set about it at the earliest opportunity to do it.
If there is nothing you can do about it, take it to the Lord and leave it there.
Leaving it there may well present a challenge. Try these mechanics. Get alone with the Lord in a quiet place and talk to Him, out loud if that is comforting. Tell Him, as if He doesn’t know, your angst. Tell Him, as instructed to do, you are giving it to Him. Admit there is nothing you can do about it. Thank Him for relieving you of the cause of the care. Get up, take a deep breath, and physically relax.
Simon Peter, who penned the text, was involved with Jesus in an angst workshop. He was with Jesus on a boat when a storm came up on the Sea of Galilee. Their lives were in peril when they called on Jesus, who promptly calmed the storm. One observation is that when we are in the storms of life, Jesus is there with us. You are not alone. Remember that and let your actions show it.
Anxiety is a small stream flowing through the field of reason which if left unattended becomes a torrent of angst. Let Jesus rid you of it, let that stream dry up.
Memorize the following as a defense against future tendencies to have angst.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7, ESV)
Faith’s Reward
What you are about to read will challenge your prayer life and call for the optimum of faith.
“But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified Bible)
The Wuest Translation reads: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him at all. For he who comes to God must of necessity in the nature of the case believe that He exists, and that He becomes a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him out.”
The one who comes to God, must believe two things: first that He exists, and second, that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. The first verb “is” is the translation of estin which speaks of existence. The second verb “is” is the translation of ginomai affirming not only that He exists, but that He exists to reward.
The process usually takes time, and there are no shortcuts. God does not respond to part-time seekers. He is only found by those who seek Him with their whole heart. The Bible says, “You must be diligent so as to realize the full assurance of hope, so that you will receive the promise.” (Hebrews 6:11)
The words “diligently seek” are literally “seek Him out.” Those who seek Him out are diligently seeking Him, and here we have the perfective use of the preposition. Vincent says in this connection: “God’s beneficent will and attitude toward the seeker are not always apparent at the first approach. In such cases there is occasion for faith, in the face of delay, that diligent seeking will find its reward.
This verse experiences what is often our experience.
“He hides himself so wondrously As though there were no God;
He is least seen when all the powers of ill are most abroad.
Or He deserts us at the hour. The fight is almost lost.
And seems to leave us to ourselves just when we need Him most.
It is not so, but so it looks; And we lose courage then;
And doubts will come if God hath kept His promises to men.”
The seed bed for faith is noted: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the (spoken) word of God.” (Romans 10:17) The word translated ‘word’ is the Greek word rhema, and it speaks of a personal face-to-face type of communication.
Vincent puts it: “He who approaches God has, through faith, the assurance that his seeking God will result in good to himself.” He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. The effect is worth the effort.
We are called to investigate and explore God, trusting that He will reveal Himself and His will at the proper time and way. Trust the Person and the process. There is never a moment God doesn’t know, love you, and design for you the best.
Keep the faith and the faith will keep you.
Worry: A Learned Experience
Psychologists have concluded worry is a learned experience. If you have trained yourself to worry, you can train yourself not to worry. Doing so may be a slow process with bumps on the reverse lane.
Go on the offence and start by speaking encouragement to persons. Try this:
“Worry and anxiety weighs a person down, but an encouraging word cheers a person up.” (Proverbs 12:25)
In summary this text means an encouraging word, a very good word, lifts the burden of anxiety and replaces it with cheer. That is a wonderful exchange.
Like you, others like to hear encouraging words. This has been described as the golden age of anxiety. That makes an encouraging word all the more valuable. In a variety of ways God has said what means “don’t worry, I will take care of you.” Trust Him.
The Bible says to “cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) God loves you and will help you. He knows your heart and will enable you to grow in grace and in knowledge. Worry can’t change the past or control the future, so why let it ruin today?
Worry is simply negative thought. There is no substance to it that can change things. In reality it robs us of time that could be spent more constructively.
To change from a negative mind set to a positive one, four areas need to be addressed.
Negative words originate in the heart. Matthew and Luke expand on this. Matthew records, “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34)
Luke goes even further, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)
Thus, to control your tongue speaking negatively, control your heart. Before medical science proved differently the ancients thought thoughts began in the heart and were carried to the brain by the blood. That makes it essential to subdue a negative thought before it matures into words. Follow the advice of Barney Fife, “Nip it, just nip it.”
Closely associated and needing control is the mind. What thoughts do you entertain? When you think a negative thought on a subject before leaving that subject, impose a positive thought on the same issue. Don’t leave the topic until you do this.
Aiding this process is your eyes. How do you look at things? Do you habitually see things from a negative perspective? If so, take a second look, and look at it from a positive perspective.
In order, this tandem of your being must increasingly be controlled by consciously changing your disposition: heart, mind, eyes, and tongue.
This instruction given Israel before going into battle, in principle, applies to you as you war against anxiety, which is malignant worry. “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” (Deuteronomy 20:1-4)
Here Is Hoping
The devil wants you to lose hope because that is the first step toward loss of faith resulting from a feeling of disappointment regarding something God did or did not do.
Scripture urges believers not to be “dismayed,” which means don’t give up. Even if you have a cause and it seems defeated, there is hope. It enables you to see the light in the darkest environment.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Observe and practice the sequential steps in that text. They are:
Do not be anxious about anything. The following will mitigate anxiety.
Express prayer and supplication (to supply your needs) with thanksgiving.” Find what you can thank God for.
So you can’t see any good in the present situation. Well – – – –
“Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Romans 8:24-26)
The Holy Spirit ups the horsepower of your prayer, even that which you can’t even articulate.
Read this, stop, and do it. In prayer do what follows.
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)
Do it now, then you will realize …
“…those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
Even if your future is seen as littered with negativity, that doesn’t mean there is no hope for the future with the Lord.
Hope helps resume living optimistically. Hope inspired by God can help you develop a mind-set enabling you to face your current disappointment and move on with the Lord to a brighter day.
Dreams die, hope lives, God reigns.