“Trustfulness is based on confidence in God whose ways I do not understand; if I did, there would be no need for trust”
Yesterday in our Bible study, we observed the patience of David to wait for God’s timing to become king. During our discussion, we brought up how patiently waiting for God required a trust in God, even when we don’t understand His plan or His timing. The question to ponder is “Do we really trust God?” We read yesterday of the great verse of how Abraham followed God. “And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren.” (Genesis 24:27) We are familiar with Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” We quote this passage genuinely, sincerely desiring to trust God with our lives, but we quickly find ourselves relying on our own wisdom. We support our conclusions to move ahead of God’s will by looking through our limited scope of knowledge. Abraham was guilty of this too! In Genesis 16, Abraham, one of the great examples of faith, and Sarah decided to “help” God, because from their limited wisdom, there was no way that God could keep His Word. This episode of lack of trust led to numerous difficulties in the life of Abraham and even generations afterwards. A couple of weeks ago, I was putting together some furniture in our living room. Shilyn asked if she could help, and Tavian volunteered to hinder progress. I explained to Shilyn what needed to be done and explained how she would have to really be listening to my instructions. At 5 years of age, she had a decent idea of what I desired to accomplish. I could ask her to hold this, or screw in this, and she would. Every once in awhile she would jump ahead in the building process, and I would have to bring her back to the step I was on, but she was genuinely trying to be helpful. Tavian, on the other hand, was a tornado of mayhem to our project. At a year and half, he did not comprehend what we desired to accomplish. He watched us use the screwdriver, and determined in his small scope of understanding that this screwdriver was the tool for everything. He tried to use it on the screen of the television, on the video game consoles, and even in his own ears. I’m sure Tavian desired to help and maybe even thought he was helping, but since he did not understand the big picture, he slowed down progress. God desires to build our lives for His glory. We don’t always understand every detail, but if we are patient and trusting, we have His promise that He will direct our paths.