The hardest part of trusting God is trusting God.
That sounds like a lot of words that don’t make a lot of sense, right? They’re also very true. It’s hard to trust God when we can’t see the path ahead, and we don’t know what the plan is. God may ask us to make some serious changes; He may lead us to hard decisions. Often, we get to these crossroads, and we’re faced with the big steps without knowing what will happen next.
That’s where a little thing called trust comes in.
See, either we have faith and we trust God, or we don’t. So many times in life I thought that I truly trusted God. If you had asked me even two years ago if my trust was in God, I would have readily agreed without hesitation. Then the storms of life began to rock my spiritual boat, and I found myself fighting God for control.
I’m a fixer. It’s in my nature to see a problem and want to fix it. I immediately set my mind on coming up with a plan that brings me security that it’s going to work out.
Trusting God doesn’t work that way. If I trust God, then I’m relinquishing control of my life and giving it to Him. If I’m constantly trying to fix the situations that arise on my own, then I’m fighting God for control. Often, I would spend so much of myself trying to make a way when there wasn’t one. God had to sit me down in the middle of a situation where I was unable to figure my way out. That’s when I started leaning on Him, building my trust in Him. When God is in control I’m no longer vying to be the one calling the shots. I stop trying to ‘fix’ things on my own and step aside, allowing Him to lead me.
Genesis 22 tells the story of God instructing Abraham to offer up his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Most of us probably know the story, however, I’ve recently been reading what God said to Abraham at the moment he lifted his knife to Isaac. An angel appeared and told Abraham not to lay his hand to Isaac. Now, many of us would be wondering why He asked us to do something only to change His mind. He’s God and He always has a perfect plan, and this was all part of it. God didn’t change His mind, He was measuring Abraham’s trust in Him. Was Abraham’s trust in God strong enough that he would be willing to sacrifice his only son, his promised child?
Yes, it was.
Sometimes the decisions that God leads us to, the sacrifices He asks us to make, are His way of measuring our faith. Yes, God gives and He takes away. We’re not the ones at the helm, and we have to trust Him with everything and everyone He has blessed us with. His plan isn’t always easy, and surely we will face losses. However, sometimes God isn’t trying to take away our Isaac. He’s measuring us to see if we trust Him enough to lay Isaac at His feet.
Whatever crossroads you may be at today, I encourage you to stretch your faith. Let go of the control stick and allow God to lead you. His plans for us may not always ‘feel good’, but they’re always perfect, and He always has good in store for us. You may have to lay your Isaac down. Maybe He will step in at the last second and intervene like He did for Abraham. Maybe He won’t.
Rest assured, we won’t ever give anything up to God that we won’t receive abundantly more in its place.
