Now while I was thinking about what is taking place in the world today and writing this article my mind drifted back to a time when I was a kid. At the time we were living in Spokane, Washington while my dad was stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base. It was a great time in life because, as a kid, time is unimportant and you tend to take life without any cares. Now, just about every weekend, I remember us going camping. When the weekend would come, we would pack up the car and head to Lake Ellen. It was our favorite camping spot and usually we had it to ourselves with the Fred Davis family who always went with us. Lake Ellen was not a real big lake. In fact it was more like a pond than a lake and was nestled in the hills of Washington in a remote area. We would fish and swim during the weekend. In fact it had a high rock that we would jump off of into the water. Now when it came to water I was not very excited. In fact I could not swim very well and really had a fear of the water. I would wear a life jacket so that I could swim but was still not real fired up. I usually would stay real close to the land and was not daring at all. Then one day my dad wanted us boys to swim across the lake pulling the boat so we could get it out of the water. I really do not remember why we were doing this but I did not want to participate. I did not swim very well and I was not real sure that my life jacket would hold me that long while we were in the water. I was not trusting and because of this uncertainty with swimming, I was taking on fear. To be very honest I thought I might drown. I cried and told my dad I did not want to do this but he put me in the water and said everything will be alright. He told me to trust him and my life jacket. He said that he would watch me all the way and that he would be waiting for me at the landing we were heading for. He was right! My life jacket held me up, he did watch me, and he was waiting at the landing on the other side of Lake Ellen.
Now, friends, what we have here is a picture of our heavenly Father. God wants us to trust Him with all our hearts. In the Amplified Bible Proverbs 3:5-6 says Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. This is one of my favorite verses because it tells us how to have our life directed by God. He says we are to trust God which means to have assured reliance upon the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone. We can have that trust in God because our Heavenly Father has these traits in His being.
Our heavenly father is speaking to us today during this economic downturn, and He is saying that we need to trust Him for provision and He will bring us through during this slow economy. So let’s look at four things that God wants us to know in order to trust Him:
1. God is with us. God gives us His word that he is with us in Matthew 28:20 and says He will be with us until the end of the age. That is good news. Now my earthly dad said he would watch me all the way while I was swimming and that brought me comfort. But how much more comfort is there in knowing that your Heavenly Father is with you in every situation and will not abandon you! Now that is someone you can trust till the end! In bad situations He will not run and leave you alone to make it on your own. He is right there with you in the trenches ready to bring you out.
2. God is unfailing. Did you hear that? God is unfailing which means He always comes through for us. Why? According to II Timothy 2:13 God says, If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself. Wow! What a promise God has made to us. He cannot deny Himself when we are unfaithful because He only has a faithful character. It’s who He is and what we want to be – faithful.
3. God is constant. God is never changing in His character and attributes, no matter what goes on around us or in us. Malachi 3:6 says “For I am the Lord, I do not change (NKJV). The Lord remains consistent throughout time. What He did in the beginning He still does today and you can count on Him tomorrow. Again in Hebrews we see that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That is true consistency in an ever changing world.
4. God is peace. Philippians 4 says that God is the God of peace, and Isaiah says that He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on the Lord. No matter what is happening in the world God is peace and His people are people who were made to dwell in peace.
As you can see God wants us to trust Him and He gives us reasons why we should trust Him fully. He is always with us, He is consistent, He never changes, and He is peace. In a volatile changing world this is good news that we can follow. Just like my dad caused me to trust him by making promises to me so God is now desiring that we trust him fully in this lifetime so that His will can be accomplished in our lives.
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After reading this I thought of some tough times in my life that I didn't turn to God, but instead just made it through on my own. I was so overwhelmed by the situation that my entire focus was on how can I fix this. Man. I am glad I found a church like Trinity where I was taught the goodness of God and learned how to "cast my cares on Him". Right now as I go through another tough time, I know that God is not only with me but He is out ahead of me clearing the way for my victory. Thanks PM for reminding me that God always with me and that he is unchanging and that with him I cannot fail and can have certain peace.
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