Dare I trust Him completely?

It is my own experience that I trusted God and it 'went wrong.' Is that true of you?  After it 'went wrong' it became problematic to completely trust God for a while.  It turns out that the 'went wrong' aspect of the circumstance was my invention.  It didn't go 'wrong' it went 'Biblically.'  God sets us up with circumstances that look like God didn't come through but again, it is our expectations that were violated, not God's plans.  Let's examine whether God has ever really let us down.

God wants to get us to a place where we unreservedly trust Him.  In that process we will find a clash of 'end result.'  My end result may be completely off key with God's.  God wants us to be in a place where we are not tracking the end result of our trust.  The idea is that we can literally stop assessing where God is taking us and simply 'walk in it.'  I have met many Christians and have done this a lot myself, "Give me a word Lord" while staring at an unopened Bible on my desk!   God has spoken. It's the Bible!

I'm sorry if this bursts anyone's bubble but the 'great cloud of witnesses' we are surrounded by is the list in Hebrews 11.  The author of Hebrews in Hebrews 12:1 asks the reader to consider the previous chapter and immerse ourselves into their lives and experience.  It's a nice idea that these characters are somehow crowded around you right now cheering you on along with past believers, but it isn't at all correct. They surround us in the sense that their faith is a multi-faceted confirmation that we are also to employ faith like they did.  They were so honed and shaped that they understood that to try to figure it out is futile. 'Just keep your eyes on Jesus.' is the way to walk well.  When we start to try to work it out is when we reach conclusions and camp around them.  When our conclusions don't correspond to the Lord's, we can get disorientated.  This is where many get off the bus in frustration, brokenness or even anger.  Disillusion and disappointment can be major factors that can lead to serious consequences.    Knowing how the Lord works by observing the bible characters is vital and can demonstrate that a slough of despond is actually a mechanism of God and you ARE in the centre of His will.

The Lord is the Lord of our reasoning.  He is also the Lord of our attempt to create formula.  It takes some time for all our self effort to come crashing down.  It may happen time and time again.  we may suffer greatly over God's jealous desire to have you calibrated to Him only.  In our western mindset we give ourselves to this because we see the importance of the mission. "Ill let go and let God because He can work through me in this dark world." That sentiment is noble and courageous.    However it runs the risk of mission something beautiful.  The primary reason the Father wants your gaze to rest on Him is because in doing so you will spare yourself the pain of self reliance. He loves you and wants you to be anchored to the one who can look after you.  He cares before He commissions.

So have you been around great failure?  Have you experienced the deep pain of loss in the walk?  It is the testimony of anyone who has been called to walk with the Lord that this will be part of it.  The cross shows us that it takes extravagant measures for God to have his will done.  As believers we signed up for 'the cross.'  Its purpose is to deliver us into the transformation of our core beings to be like Christ.  Been hurt? Suffered loss?  Experienced failure?  The Bible is clear we must walk on knowing this is all part of the process and no reason to question Jesus.

Dare I trust Him completely?  As we understand the way of the Lord as outlined in the Bible... Absolutely.

Gary Ward