A Trusting Heart... Part One

For the past 2 months (or so), I've been studying having a trusting heart.  Instead of posting the entire lesson in one post - and potentially scaring you by the length of it (smiles) - I am going t post the lesson in three parts.  :)  

I hope and pray that this lesson is a help to you.  It was such a blessing and convicting to my not-so-trusting heart.

~ Angie

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God is omniscient.  This means He sees all eternity at once:  past, present and future.  God is all-knowing.  He knows your past.  He is aware of your present and has full understanding of your future.  “The more you know God, the more you will trust Him.” 

Lysa TerKeurst, in her book What Happens When Women Say Yes to God?, she writes,

"Being a woman who says yes to God

means making the choice to trust Him

even when you can’t understand why

He requires some of the things He does.

It also means that once you’ve said yes

to God, you refuse to turn back, even

when things get hard."

Corrie Ten Boom has been noted as having said:   “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.”

We need to ask ourselves some pretty pointed questions:

Does your heart (and my heart) trust God believing that He is working out everything for your good?  Or do you (and I) worry that He may make mistakes? 

We need to consider God knows our past.  You may be tormented by your personal history, even the moments over which you had no control.  God does know about all your yesterdays. 

Perhaps it’s the memory of past sins that haunts you.  If so remember this:  If you have confessed those sins to your Father and asked for His forgiveness, they are gone.  He has freely forgiven you of the guilt and penalty due for those sins.

I John 1:7-9 * But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

According to those verses, Jesus’ blood cleanses us from sin.  We are not able to work out a payment plan for our sins.  Jesus’ blood paid the entire debt.

According to verse 9, the only “if” condition we have to be abide by is – If we confess our sins. 

Two attributes of God are listed after the conditional “if” statement…God is faithful and just.

Micah 7:18 * Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

Our sins are cast into the depths of the sea.  They can never ever be retrieved.

We’ve seen that God knows our past.  Now we need to realize God knows our present.

I can choose to trust Him because He knows what is going on right now.  Let’s be honest – trusting Him is a choice!  Every single day, we are given “trust-opportunities.”

For me, trusting God with my singleness has been a bit of a struggle.  My single status is often looked-down upon.  I’ve been told by well-meaning people to lower my standards.  The closer that I get to the Lord, the more in love with Him I fall.  When I am lonely, I trust Him because He has promised to my ever-present Guide.  He knows where my road is leading.  He can see what lies ahead.  He knows my concerns.  He knows what I feel.  He knows the pain I cannot explain to someone else ... God knows. The fear of the unknown—He knows. And He offers me Himself.  Perhaps you feel overwhelmed today. You may be experiencing some sadness, loss or worry. You may find that God has called you to a difficult path. "Surely," you think, "God has an easier road for me to travel." 

The truth is, we aren't wise enough to assume another path would be best for us. Maybe the easier road won't make us into the person God intends us to be.  Perhaps the difficult road is a path of grace—protecting us from the worst.  Maybe this road is about learning something new about God or ourselves. Could it be the difficult journey is the path that prepares us for a greater purpose or a greater faith in God?  In my kitchen, I have a hand-painted sign with the verse Proverbs 18:30:  “As for God, His way is perfect.”  I can trust God because He knows the best path.  Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  This verse tells us, we can trust the path God has laid out for us today. We can trust, and not fear, in His infinite wisdom and love. And we can be certain that God will never lead us down the wrong road.

Psalm 139:2-4 * Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.  Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.   For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

There was quite a list of mundane activities of our daily life that God knows.

Downsitting, uprising, our thoughts (daydreams), our path, lying down, and the words we speak

Psalm 139:8-12 *  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Here we see places of escape…Heaven, Hell, flight, swim, darkness, daylight.  We see that we cannot escape from God and His presence.  We cannot escape from God because He is omnipresent.

God knows where you are every moment.  He is a Father watching over us…as a shepherd watches over his sheep.  Yes, He does have to correct me – OFTEN…but He is always there…watching and guiding me.  The closer I stay to Him – the less likely I am to stray off and do my own thing.  God watches over us – this should comfort us.  His purpose, according to verse 10, is to lead and guide us.

Psalm 139:17-18 * How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

God is continually thinking about me.  Me.  Angie Good.

The God of the universe doesn’t think about you just forty-two times a day.  His thoughts are continuous – He never stops!  Why does He think about so much?  What is His purpose? 

Proverbs 24:12 * If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?