Trust. I thought I had this one in the pocket. Years ago, I was so excited to finish writing a Bible study with this topic because I thought it would be an easy one for me. I thought I had conquered the issue of trust many, many years ago. I was stunned when I began writing and hit an unexpected roadblock. This was a huge boulder for me because I have always trusted God. I can look back and count the times wh
en my life depended on my choice to trust Him. I trusted that God was sovereign and that He loved His children. I trusted that He loved me. I trusted that He could and would do what was best according to His plan. He always had, and I believed He always would. It wasn’t until wrote my study, Choices, that God revealed to me I hadn’t chosen to trust Him with the everyday issues of my life and of those around me. I knew He had the “big” things under control, and I chose to trust Him in those. But I had never realized I didn’t trust Him in the ongoing events or struggles that I live out daily.
God showed it to me this way—picture a child running to the park, parent running right beside her, ready to help and push her on the swings. The young girl gets herself up in the swings but because she doesn’t know how to pump her legs, she sits. The parent walks up to give her little girl a good push, and she quickly says, “No, Mommy (or Daddy), I got this!” So, the parent steps back and the girl sits frustrated and trying, but still not moving. She gets down and runs to the monkey bars. She is little, so she starts jumping up and down, each time reaching for the bar that is still five feet above her head. The parent comes over to pick her up and help her with her struggle. “Why don’t you let me handle this for you, I’m a little bigger and I can lift you up,” the parent suggests. The little girl replies, “No, I got this!” And she continues to jump but never even comes close to overcoming her struggle or the issue she currently faces. She finally gives up and moves on to her next interest, where she again declares, “I’ve got this!”
The little girl is so determined to conquer her struggles on her own that she exhausts her strength without ever receiving the joy and blessing of all the park had to offer. She probably enjoyed the sand, but if she had chosen to trust her parents to guide her through her struggles, her joy would have doubled.
God is standing with me every day, ready to help me with every struggle, ready to give me a push in the right direction and to lift me up when I keep falling down. He is such a gentleman and a loving parent that He won’t impose Himself on me. I have to choose to accept His offer. God wants to help me in everyday issues and in my every struggle. Our everyday struggles (to love, obey, forgive, surrender, sacrifice and trust) often make it more difficult for us to depend on God than life altering, devastating tragedies which hit us unexpectedly.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” There is a time to struggle, and great things are taught in our struggles, but there is also a time to rest. If the child on the playground had chosen to rest in her parent’s arms, she would have soared higher on her swing and climbed higher and longer on the monkey bars on her parent’s strength instead of her own. First Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.” God cares when we struggle. He cares about every struggle that we have, the big ones as well as the little ones.
We must make the choice to trust God to be who He says He is; we must trust God will do what He says He will do. We won’t choose to love, obey, forgive, surrender, or sacrifice unless we deem the receiver trustworthy. God is the ultimate receiver of our choices. If we do everything for Him, then day-to-day issues and the responses of everyone around us will begin to quiet as we listen to the words of the only One who is truly trustworthy in ALL things. This is a choice we must make to trust God for who He is and what He will do in the midst of all our struggles and pain.
