Trust Him

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6

I’d been thinking about how we ought to deal with the disappointments of life. Life is full of them – that big holiday you want seems out of reach, the relationship that you thought was the one, maybe isn’t, the job you want doesn’t get offered, people you should be able to count on – like our government leaders fall so short of expectations. The list of disappointments can go on forever if we want to wallow in the self pity that often comes along with disappointment.

Then I started to think about some of the people in the Bible and the disappointments they faced and then overcame in amazing ways. Take Joseph for instance – God had given him a couple of amazing dreams, he understood them and like the song knew his future was so bright he’d need shades. Then he got thrown into a cistern, sold into slavery and ended up in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. I don’t know about you but I’d be pretty disappointed. Consider Moses handpicked to help lead his people out of slavery and into the Promised Land – only to see it from a distance and never get there. Joshua was ready to lead the charge to take the land but had to wait until all the old folks died off in the wilderness before he could do what God wanted. Jesus’ handpicked leaders were not only disappointed that their friend and teacher was dead, but they were scared too. I suppose Jesus even had times when he was disappointed – like when John the Baptist was killed or when those same handpicked leaders just did not seem to get it. Yet all of them went on to do amazing things following their greatest disappointments. So how did they keep going, how did they go from disappointment to victory?

There is something that these examples share and I believe it’s the thing that allowed them to move from disappointment to victory. That thing is trust. In Joseph’s story we read over and over that the Lord was with him. Moses got to talk to God face to face and no doubt he is still talking with Him face to face. Joshua was old when he led Israel across the Jordan into the Promised Land and declared that: “He and his house would trust in the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). The disciples ultimately fulfilled their commissions because they trusted in Jesus and Jesus was able to do all He did because He trusted the Father.

The dictionary defines trust as: reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety of a person or thing; confidence and as the confident expectation of something; hope. So you see hope comes from trusting in the One who knows the whole plan and is with you even in the disappointments of life. I think this week’s passage not only sums up the secret to living a victorious life but instructs how we should live every day.

This week no matter what kinds of disappointments you may be dealing with, know you are not ever alone and trust that God has got you and that HE will bring you through to victory.

A Prayer
Father – thank you for all the examples of lives moving from disappointment to victory because they trusted you. Help us each day to put our full trust in You so that we can have hope even in the trials of life. Helps us also to display our trust and hope to the world around us – a world that so desperately needs hope and the confidence that a better day is coming. In the name of Jesus, who teaches us to trust and gives us hope, we pray – Amen.