A Trusting Heart...Part Two

God knows our past, our present, and He certainly knows our future.

You can trust your Heavenly Father to meet every coming need.  Women are experts at worrying about the future – at imagining all the horrid things that could happen.  I think it’s our tragic flaw. 

How comforting it is to know the Lord can see all the way down the road and that He has anticipated every need.  Just as long-distance hikers have supplies for their upcoming trail, you have supplies from His inexhaustible resources waiting along your path.  They will be there for you, exactly when and where you need them.

Philippians 4:19 *  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

God has promised to supply our every need.

Numbers 23:19 * God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

God does not lie!  He is God and not man.

God gives us two commands in Matthew 6:33-34 *   But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.  Seek His kingdom and His righteousness

What does this mean?  We are to love what God loves and seek Him in every area of our lives.

In What Happens When Women Say Yes to God, Lysa shared this statement about obeying God.  “It [obedience] is having the overwhelming desire to walk in the center of God’s will at every moment.  Don’t stumble over fearing you won’t be perfect or that you are sure to mess up.  Saying yes to God isn’t about perfect performance, but rather perfect surrender to the Lord day by day.  Your obedience becomes radical the minute this desire turns into real action.  Radical obedience is hearing from God, feeling His nudges, participating in His activity, and experiencing His blessings in ways few people ever do.”

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.

James 1:5 * If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Isaiah 46:4 * And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Deuteronomy 33:25 * Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.

We can trust God to supply what we need today for today.  We don’t have to worry or fret.  God cares about the sparrows and He surely cares about us. 

One of our cantata songs, titled If God Sees the Sparrows Fall, the lyrics spoke to my heart.

If God sees the sparrows fall and watches flowers grow, 
I know He’ll care for me each day that I live on earth below; 
Though trials come my way and life may troubled be, 
If God sees the sparrows fall, then
I know He’ll care for me.  
 Though trials rise that I don’t understand, 
I know it’s part of God’s 
almighty plan; In the time of pain I can trust God above, 
I lean on Him; it’s Him I love.

God is omnipotent.

A friend, a sister, or even your husband may sympathize but be helpless to solve your problems.  God, however, can change your circumstances.  As the ultimate Ruler of the universe, He can do anything.  He has the power!

Let’s see how God controls nature.

 Isaiah 40:12 *  Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

Psalm 147:8-9, 16-18 * Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.  He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.  He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.  He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?  He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.

Mark 4:41 * And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Psalm 89:9 * Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

Nothing that we would consider as a natural disaster is out of God’s control.  Nature should stimulate us to worship the Creator – not worship His creation.

Psalm 36:5-6 * Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.

No matter what happens in nature, Psalm 36:6 says – God keeps all men and animals safe!

I was thinking about His protection and in Mark 4:36, Jesus told the disciples that they were going to go across the Sea of Galilee to the other side.  Somewhere between the two sides, a storm arose.  The water was coming over the boat and everything was amok.  The disciples thought for sure that Jesus had lead them there to drown.  Jesus didn’t say, “Let’s row out to the middle and drown.”  He told them they were going to other side.

No only does God have power over nature; He also has power over people. 

Proverbs 21:1 * The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Romans 13:1 * Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Both of these verses tell us the king’s heart is in God’s hand and we are to be subject to God because He is the “Higher Power.”  Jesus Christ made His authority over human governmental authority unmistakable in a remarkable exchange with Pilate in John 19:9-11.  Pilate threatened Jesus, asserting he had power to put Jesus to death.  Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all unless it came from heaven.”  Even if rulers do not believe in our heavenly Father, He still exercises power over them and uses them to protect or chastise us.  Political leaders are subject to God’s rule.

He has power over angels.

Good angels.  Angels are God’s servants.  One of their assignments is YOU! 

Psalm 34:7 * The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. – the angel surrounds us to deliver us.

Psalm 91:1 * He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. – They are to watch over us.

Your kind, loving Father has provided you with these helpers and protectors.  You can trust Him.

Evil angels.  Demons are fallen angels – Revelation 12:9 tells us  the angels who rebelled with Satan against God’s authority. 

James 2:19 * Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

The demons believe and tremble.

In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, demons encountered Christ on earth.  They even called Him “Son of God” and “the Holy One of God.”  They feared He would send them to what they know is their ultimate destination – everlasting fire.  Demons are already-defeated foes of God and His children.  They are active in this world but face doom in the next.  These ugly “powers of darkness” cannot harm you, the child of God they fear.  You can trust your heavenly Father to protect you from their attacks.

He has power over death.

Unless the Lord returns in your lifetime – you will die.  It’s something we have to accept.  We do not need to fear death.  We don’t need to fear it because physical death is not the end of life – it’s simply a passing from our earthly life to our heavenly life.  The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:8 – when we are absent from our bodies, we will be in the presence of the Lord.

I Corinthians 15:12-22 * Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.  Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.  For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Christ’s resurrection is important because it’s the epitome of our faith.  Without His resurrection, all else is vain.  In those verses, without faith in the resurrection, we are most miserable and without hope.

God has power over nature, people, angels and even death.  We can trust Him.