Trusting the God Who Is For Us!

 

Trusting the God Who Is For Us

Scripture First

Psalm 25:4–5 (NLT)

“Show me the right path, O Lord;

point out the road for me to follow.

Lead me by your truth and teach me,

for you are the God who saves me.

All day long I put my hope in you.”

Isaiah 30:18 (NLT)

“So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.”

Lamentations 3:25 (NLT)

“The Lord is good to those who depend on him,

to those who search for him.”

God Is Not Against You

Have you ever wished God would just give you a map?

I know I have.

Sometimes I want God to show me the whole road. I want to know where we're going, how we're going to get there, how long it will take, and preferably what potholes I'm going to hit along the way! 😂

But God rarely gives us the whole map.

Instead, He gives us the next step.

Psalm 25:4–5 is one of those prayers we can all pray:

“Show me the right path, O Lord.”

Not, “Lord, bless the path I have already chosen.”

Not, “Lord, make my plans work.”

But, “Show me YOUR path.”

That is a big difference.

Sometimes we get ourselves into trouble because we decide where we want to go and then ask God to come along with us. We make our plans, make our decisions, and then say, “Okay, Lord, please bless this.”

But David shows us another way.

He says, “Lord, show me. Teach me. Lead me.”

In other words, “God, I don't know what I'm doing. But You do.”

And honestly, there is freedom in admitting that.

We don't have to have all the answers.

We don't have to understand everything God is doing.

We don't even have to know what tomorrow holds.

We just need to know who holds tomorrow.

That is where trust begins.

Sometimes God Says, “Wait.”

Now comes the hard part.

Waiting.

Oh, how we hate that word!

We live in a world where almost everything is immediate. We can send a message and expect an answer. We can order something and have it delivered tomorrow. We can look up almost anything in seconds.

But God doesn't work on Amazon Prime time. 😂

Sometimes we pray and nothing seems to happen.

We ask God to open a door, and it stays closed.

We ask Him to change a situation, and nothing changes.

We ask Him for an answer, and all we hear is silence.

But Isaiah 30:18 gives us a beautiful glimpse into the heart of God.

“The Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion.”

Think about that.

God isn't sitting in heaven with His arms crossed, waiting for us to mess up.

He isn't looking for reasons to punish us.

He isn't standing over us saying, “Let's see what you do now.”

He is waiting to show us His love and compassion.

The delay doesn't mean God has forgotten you.

The closed door doesn't mean God has abandoned you.

The unanswered prayer doesn't mean God doesn't care.

Sometimes God is saying:

“Trust Me. I see what you cannot see.”

And sometimes the very thing we are begging God to hurry up and fix is the very thing He is using to teach us how to trust Him.

God Is For Us

I think one of the hardest things we have to learn as Christians is that God is for us, not against us.

We can look at our circumstances and think otherwise.

Life can be hard.

Ross and I certainly know that.

We've walked through some pretty rough roads together. We've had seasons where we didn't know how things were going to work out. We've had moments when all we could do was take the next step and trust God for the one after that. Currently our electricity has been off for four months. We intended to pay it off over summer but our jeep needed repairs that were more than the 1400 for the electricity. So for now we wait and trust God that the doors we have knocked at one will be opened and we will get the help we need. We will wait without worry.

Because sometimes that next step didn't look very impressive.

It looked like getting up and trying again.

It looked like praying when we were tired.

It looked like trusting God when we couldn't see an answer.

It looked like saying, “Lord, I don't understand this, but I still believe You.”

That's faith.

Faith isn't pretending everything is wonderful.

Faith is looking at something that isn't wonderful at all and saying:

“My God is still good.”

Lamentations 3:25 tells us:

“The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.”

Notice that Jeremiah said this while surrounded by tremendous sorrow.

He wasn't sitting in a perfect little life with everything going his way.

He was hurting.

And yet he could still say:

“The Lord is good.”

That's the kind of faith I want.

Not faith that depends on everything going right.

Faith that says God is good even when life isn't.

Keep Walking the Path

There is a Hebrew word, darash, that means to seek, search out, inquire, or pursue.

I love that picture.

Imagine a path through the grass that has been walked over again and again. The more someone walks that path, the more clearly it becomes a path.

That's what our relationship with God can become.

Every morning we pray.

Every day we open His Word.

When we're afraid, we seek Him.

When we're confused, we seek Him.

When we're thankful, we seek Him.

When we're hurting, we seek Him.

When we don't know what to do, we seek Him.

Little by little, we become familiar with His voice and His ways.

We don't suddenly become people who never struggle.

We become people who know where to go when we struggle.

And that's the difference.

God doesn't promise that the road will always be easy.

He promises to lead us.

He doesn't promise we'll understand every turn.

He asks us to trust Him.

He doesn't promise that we will never face trouble.

He promises that we will never face it alone.

So if you're standing at a crossroads today, don't panic because you can't see the entire road.

Ask God to show you the next step.

If you're waiting for an answer, don't assume the silence means God has left.

Keep seeking Him.

If life has knocked you down, don't believe the lie that God is against you.

He is still for you.

And if you don't understand what He is doing, remember this:

You don't have to understand the whole journey to trust the One who is leading you.

God knows the road.

God knows the destination.

God knows what is around the corner.

And God knows you.

So today, I am going to pray a simple prayer:

“Lord, show me the path. Teach me Your truth. Lead me where You want me to go. Help me wait when I don't understand. And give me the faith to take the next step when You do.”

That's enough.

We don't need the whole map.

We just need to follow our Guide.

And our Guide is faithful.

Our Guide is good.

Our Guide loves us.

Our Guide is for us.

So take the next step.

Trust Him.

Follow Him.

And let God take care of the rest.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Today I come to You knowing that I don't have all the answers. Sometimes I don't even know which direction to turn.

But You do.

Lord, show me the path You want me to take. Teach me Your truth. Give me wisdom when I have decisions to make and patience when I have to wait.

Help me remember that Your silence does not mean You have forgotten me. Your delays do not mean You don't love me. And a difficult road does not mean You have abandoned me.

Help me trust that You are working even when I cannot see what You are doing.

Forgive me for the times I try to take control and then ask You to bless my plans.

Today I surrender my plans to You.

Lead me.

Correct me when I wander.

Give me courage when the road is difficult.

Give me patience when I have to wait.

And give me faith to take the next step, even when I cannot see the entire journey.

Thank You for being a faithful God.

Thank You for being a good God.

Thank You for loving me.

And thank You that You are for me, not against me.

I place this day, this journey, my family, my worries, and my future into Your hands.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom,

and the power,

and the glory,

forever and ever.

Amen.

BELIEVE. OBEY. BE BLESSED.

AMEN. BOBBA. ❤️

Love, Penny 💛