As Christians, we have to remember that to fully trust in God we have to relinquish full (all) control. But, I’ll just come out and say it: Trusting God with all we have can be really difficult.
We live in a culture where so much is in our control. From setting our weekly schedules with a few keystrokes, choosing which emails to read with the swipe of a finger, to leveraging the latest app that enables us to communicate with our coworkers. Seemingly everything in our work week is easily controllable, at times with a mere click.
Our pastimes can be similar. There are countless ways we can find rest and leisure browsing our phones or tablets. One-click. One swipe. It’s all instantaneous.
God Moving “Too Slow” ≠ God Is Too Small
Let’s take our relationship with our Heavenly Father and think this through. If our expectation with most things is that gratification and results are instantaneous, does that carry over to how we approach Jesus? If we’re so used to getting things quickly – through social media, entertainment, and various other platforms – have we conditioned ourselves to expect the same results from Christ?
We tend to want things now, don’t we? We tend to want things our way – at work, with our relationships, and beyond.
Consider this: If we have an idea of how and when the Lord should respond, what happens when He doesn’t deliver on our requests? What happens when we don’t see the results we want? We get frustrated. Our faith, our trust in God, wanes. To be frank: these are things that reveal our heart, our motivation, and our false sense of faith.
And we’re the culprits here, not God. For starters, our Christianity isn’t about having some great big faith in God. The reality is that our faith, while small, is in a great big God. If we can come to terms with that – if we would but step aside and relinquish everything to God – the Holy Spirit can set to work bolstering our faith.
Abraham Fully Trusted God
In Genesis 15:6, as we read about God’s covenant with Abraham, the text says that he “believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
Abraham was human, just like you and I are human. Abraham sinned and was impatient, just like you and me. And yet, when Abraham did believe and did trust in God’s promises, the Lord likened it to righteousness.
What, then, does that tell us about how God feels about belief and trust in Him?
Galatians 3:9 reads, “So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” Oh that you and I might be called men and women of faith!
So how do we get there? How do we get to a place in our lives where we can trust in God with abandon?
It Takes Discipline – Like Anything Else!
First, I believe it starts with having a Spiritual discipline. So many of us put off reading our Bible and going before the Lord in prayer. We’re content with Sundays and expect that one sermon to carry us through the week.
But we need to come to the Lord and seek Him daily. Anything less simply won’t do. This should then translate into consistency over time (more like a marathon than a sprint, which fights our need to finish and then move on to the “next big thing.”)
Next, we need to change our approach.
Psalm 37 verse 3 -5 reads, “Trust in the Lord…Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord.” Don’t miss this: Take delight in the Lord, commit to Him. If we’re living and resting and trusting in Him, a radical shift takes place within our hearts. It’s a transformation. David knew what he was talking about, and certainly God-breathed these words into him.
Trust. Take delight. Commit our ways.
This is how we can begin to strengthen our trust in the Lord. It takes work, effort, just like with any relationship. But don’t misunderstand me. Our relationship with God is more important and more fulfilling than any other relationship we have.
It should be, anyway. Because God is sovereign. God will never leave us nor forsake us. God wants us to draw closer to Him, and to grow in Him. He wants to fulfill the desires of our hearts.
We just have to trust Him, as Abraham did. And, like Abraham, we’re going to fall short. But let us take comfort knowing that God doesn’t fall short. God’s in control, and He wants us to actually believe that and hurl ourselves into his glorious presence.
Yes, to fully trust in God we have to relinquish full control, but it takes obedience and God-honoring persistence to get there.
Mercy Multiplied is a nonprofit Christian organization that equips people to live free and stay free through Jesus Christ through our residential counseling program and Outreach services. Follow us on social media @MercyMultiplied on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
