Recently, I had a breakthrough. For over 2 decades, The Almighty has been lovingly trying to teach me to trust Him. And as anyone who knows me readily understands, it took those ENTIRE TWO DECADES to sink in. And it’s this realization, this breakthrough, that has prompted today’s post.

Where do you look for your strength or for your provisions? Is it an entity (like the Government) or a person (like your parents) or maybe it’s a thing (like your paycheck)? Perhaps your one of the millions who have bought the line to “look inside yourself.” And while that “look inside” can give you a bit of a boost now and again, it ultimately feels as tenuous, fragile, and unsettling as most of the above. Trust the Government, and you have to make sure your candidates get elected or that your policies are enacted; even a Government shutdown can throw you. People, as reliable as some are, still fall short of being always available or reliable. And let’s not even bother going into the problems with trusting in your paycheck. I’m pretty sure anyone who’s worked for more than 3 years knows how unreliable a paycheck might be!

The entities, people, and/or things we put our trust in secretly reveal our deepest convictions of what is true. For me, I’ve often trusted in my creativity, my problem-solving abilities. I could fix, solve, or repair ANYTHING! And while I remains the guy to call when the impossible needs to be done, I have finally recognized that The Almighty’s ability is far superior to anything I can do. I am limited to that which I have access to, be it money, people, tangible resources (like wood, steel, etc.), and physics (I can’t drive to the other side of the world or make it to some faraway destination in mere minutes). But The Almighty is not bound by such limitations.

Recently, I wrote about the challenge of trusting God when He’s silent. And in my own life, I have seen God make what seemed impossible possible. But even then, I hit bumps and began to doubt. How can I afford XYZ? Oh how will I ever get ABC done? And then Jesus lovingly tapped me on the shoulder, “Hmm. Didn’t I give you this house? Do you think I did not anticipate these things?” And I am humbly reminded that until He made it happen, I could not even afford to be where I am nor doing what I do.

For so long, I’ve bought the line that “this is important; you have to do this now.” And I’ve listened to the critics that “you can’t just step into the unknown like that!” But if God calls you out into the unknown areas of life, who are you to say you shouldn’t go? If He has a plan and asks you to wait, who are you to tell Him there’s no time? But it’s even bigger than that!

If we have acknowledged our sin, accepted Jesus’ death on our behalf, acknowledge His resurrection, and chosen to follow Him as Lord of our lives, then we have abandoned the option to believe He won’t do what’s best for us.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for all, won’t he also give us everything else?

Romans 8:31-32

I know that, at times in my life, I’ve argued with that second question. “Who can be against us?” EVERYONE! LOL! But truthfully, imagine it this way, if you had the Incredible Hulk (or, more directly, Dr. Bruce Banner) as your best friend, and you went everywhere together, can you see anyone really challenging you or picking on you? Even if they did, all Dr. Banner has to do is decide to Hulk-out and BAMMO! Game over! So, yeah, people could pick a fight, but they’re picking a losing fight.

So, when we come across opposition or challenges, if we have chosen to follow Jesus, then we don’t have to get upset or be fearful. We have but to bow ourselves before The Master and ask what He would like us to do? He may ask us to suffer without just cause, or He may remove the opposition, or He may resolve the challenge. Nonetheless (love that word; no less than before the statement was made, this is still true), whatever He has for us to do (including waiting patiently for Him to come through), we can know that He has the best possible plan to resolve the situation.

For me, it’s taken nearly 20 years to get that through my head! I pray it does not take even 1/100th of that time for you! But if you find that you just can’t do that yet, then I encourage you to spend time in prayer and the Word and look for opportunities to wait on the Lord and see Him resolve things you thought couldn’t be dealt with. Sometimes, we are our own hindrance to growth in Christ.

And if you follow this blog, and you haven’t yet chosen to follow Jesus, then I implore you to stop running away now. There is only one God, and He is a just and righteous God. His standard is, and must be, perfection. At the same time, He loves mankind so much that He couldn’t just standby as we destroyed ourselves by sin. No human has ever lived a perfect life, except for one, the God-Man, Jesus, the Son of God. He was sent as God in flesh, to live, to serve, and to be crucified (a capitol punishment; in His case, it was sanctioned murder, being innocent of His accused cries). On the third day, He rose from the dead (confirmed and verifiably dead, but then alive again, confirmed and verifiably). If you will stop living your life by your own standards, accept His Lordship (seeking His way, not your ways), you can be free from your sins and enjoy a relationship with The Almighty God, who loves you so dearly that He’s willing to endure every form of suffering and pain to make a way for you to know Him, even before you knew you needed it and what it was worth. Take time now to start a relationship with Him, confessing your sins, and beginning from this day forward to walk with Him, following His lead (fully, without adding or subtracting from what He’s said), and seeking to bring glory to Him by your submission to Him in all things. If you don’t have a Bible, you can get one here: https://staging.wayfm.com/bible/ (I am not affiliated with Way-FM, in any way; this is just a simple way to get a free Bible.)

1 Corinthians 15:10 – Godspeed!