This is the first of a 5-part series on spiritual growth.

This week's topic: TRUST

Trust in the Lord

with all your heart,

and do not lean on your

own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

What are you leaning on? 

Who do you trust? 

Where are you getting your sense of security and hope?

• Your bank account?
• Your job?
• Your spouse?
• Your friends? 

Have you ever leaned on something that collapsed? It looked solid, but soon it buckled and you stumbled or fell with it?

Have you ever trusted someone who betrayed you or ignored you, mistreated you or left you hanging?

Do you ever feel that there is no one to lean on or trust?

Even Jesus can sympathize:

“Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them,

because he knew all people

and needed no one to bear witness

about man, for he himself knew

what was in man.”

John 2:24-25

Who then do we trust? Ourselves?

Nope. The same partial understanding, limited perspectives, biases, and sins are in yourself as in other people. As the passage above says: 

“LEAN NOT on your own understanding.”

So who is left to trust? Just God.

He is the only one with the knowledge, integrity, love, and compassion for you and everything you are struggling with.

He understands you.

He wants the best for you.

He has never let you down.

Now I don’t mean he is going to run the universe or your life the way you think he “should.”

He will actually lead you on a path

that is best for you and his purposes. 

And this is the best thing for you. You will not always agree in the moment, but you will likely turn around and see his hand working 1 or 2 years later.

So for 2024, let us lean on the everlasting arms of God!

Let us trust him in all our decisions and circumstances. And especially trust him when things seem bleak, or lonely, or frustrating, or sad or angry.

Let us trust him when we are afraid, ashamed, or guilty.

Let us trust him with the chaos of the world around us and the chaos of the world within us.

Homework: 

Take a moment to tell God that you trust Him. Then list things in your life that you need to trust him with. 

Write Proverbs 3:5 out (the verse at the top of this devotion) and tape it to the bathroom mirror or hang it on the fridge. Or you could take 10 minutes to memorize it.

Each day when you sense guilt, shame, anxiety, sadness, anger, boredom, etc. Quietly lift that thing to God and say to him “I trust you Father!”

Grace and peace,

Pastor Harvey