HOW TO TRUST IN THE LORD

Our Lord is aware that we are weak, vulnerable, and helpless and desperately need Him. He also tells us how we can depend upon Him:

·       Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7 (ESV)

We humble ourselves by confessing the truth – We are dependent on Him to forgive our sins as we confess them repentantly. However, we might not experience a sense of “immediate relief,” because He will lift us out of our doldrums in His “proper time.”

According to Jesus, He also cares about our slightest needs:

·       “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)

Our Lord is so concerned about even the little things in our lives that He has determined the number of hairs on our head. Therefore, we shouldn’t worry that our problems might be too small for Him to be concerned.

How then are we to cast all of our anxieties upon Him? With all of my anxieties, I should be a master of this by now. Well…I have learned some important principles. When we cast our care upon Him, it is Him to whom we look (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). Instead, many of us tend to continue to look at ourselves to see if our anxieties are now gone. This is self-obsession! Our Lord will take them away when He is ready, and it won’t be because we have willed them to go. Instead, this is one reason that He allows us to wait – to show us that it is He who comforts us.

We have to look towards Him and away from ourselves, as if we have the ability to overcome our fears. How do we look towards Him?

·       …The Lord is at hand; 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 4:5-7)

The peace of God may not come immediately. It seldom does. However, continue to look to Him and His promises in prayer and thanksgiving. Don’t grieve that you are still hurting. There is a purpose for pain. Regard your suffering as evidence that the Lord working to refine you.

·       For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

Therefore, regard it as a positive rather than a negative:

·       So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

We do not lose heart because the Lord is convincing us that our lives and fears are in His hands, and that our Savior is working out everything for good according to His plan for our lives (Romans 8:28; Ephesians 2:10).

But how are we to look to the eternal? In prayer and in meditation of His comforting Word! These take us away from looking at our fears to what is of overwhelming importance. We might even journal about our fears, prayers, and how the Scriptures address our problems. For me, this has served to reinforce the lessons of Scripture and to keep me focused on the Eternal. Now I just write essays!