Trust in the Lord Part 3

Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart – Part 3

We have seen that God is not an angry sadistic autocrat in the sky waiting to punish us and make us suffer. We have seen that He is love, and we examined what scripture says we can expect from love. In this final segment we will address the practical ramifications of all this.

If Father is not waiting to punish us, and He is not demanding that we suffer for Him, does that mean that our life is just a bed of roses and we walk through life without trouble? Does it mean that we always get the best parking spot, that we are first in line in the grocery store, that we have a Bentley and a Rolls Royce in the driveway? Does that mean that we and our families never face illness, disability, or conflict? Does that mean that we will not face persecution because we are the Lord’s beloved children? Clearly that is not what we experience.

In John 16:33 (AV), Jesus Himself said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

I think the key to all this for me was Psalm 37:4 (AV). “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” I have thought a lot about this passage. It has always been clear to me that being in Christ does not mean a life of getting whatever we want, yet at first glance this passage seems to say that we will.

The way I have come to understand this is that as we delight ourselves in the Lord (get to know His loving heart) our desires begin to fall in line with His. So, His will is what we want. He changes what we ourselves want. He does not force a change in our behavior or even in our thinking, yet we are transformed as our minds are renewed.

Philippians 2:13 (AV) makes this clear. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” The Holy Spirit living in and through us changes what we want. This is part of our becoming conformed to the image of Christ that Paul talks about in Romans 8:29 (AV) “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…”

As we live in Christ and experience oneness with Him, our thinking, and our desires—the things we want—are gently changed so that we want what what He wants. And this is a genuine change and not something concocted out of willpower. It is a real shift of the heart toward what God desires. We truly do want what He wants.

As this conformation to His image progresses, fleshly behaviors and attitudes fall away. They lose their appeal since they are seen for what they are—works that lead to death. We come to see that they are not good for us, that they hurt others, and that they do not satisfy us. They are damaging and destructive and their appeal is finally lost.

This change in our hearts also leads to a more relaxed and restful attitude about the future. When what may happen is truly left in Father’s hands it can be something of an adventure to see what he has planned. When the events of life themselves, not just the outcome of those events, are given over to God, the result is a quiet peace even amidst chaos.

Please do not think that I have attained my black belt in walking in peace and joy. That is certainly not the case. What I am saying is that throughout our lives the Spirit continues to prompt us to look to the Lord in difficulty more often than we used to.

Here is what Paul shared with the Corinthian saints in 2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (AV)

“16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

This is an image of spiritual growth. The fruit of it is a more relaxed attitude and less emotional turmoil. Perhaps even more surprising is that, without our even noticing, the aroma of Jesus is caught by others. They see that there is something different about us. That “something” is our lovely Lord Jesus.

I want to encourage you that it is safe to trust in the Lord with all your heart. Hold nothing back. He is faithful, He is love. You will not be disappointed.