Trust!

Trust!

Jeremiah 17:7-8 AMPC

[7] [Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is. 

[8] For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.

Jeremiah could trust the source of the message laid out in the verses above. Here was a young man who was told by God from a very young age that he had been sanctified and ordained as a prophet to the nations. God would not only tell him this, but he would also go ahead to equip him with all he needed for the assignment he had been given. That is just a very small bit of who God is: He does not commission an assignment without providing the resources required for the full discharge of that assignment. Jeremiah had seen God at work; he had seen God's promises of both blessings for obedience and punishment for disobedience all come to pass in the lives of the children of Israel. Again, with God, He does not leave us in any doubt as to what His standards are. His love and His judgment are both parts of His person, and I will do well to respect that. Like Jeremiah, do you know this God?

The secret to accessing all that God is rests on trusting completely in the Lord. It is not partial reliance, where you leave room for the possibility that God can change His mind and not do what He has promised. It is not sitting on the fence of non-committment, waiting to see where the land lies before you make a decision. You are either all in or all out. For all who, like the church in Laodicea, who thought sitting on the fence of indifference was a great idea, remember Jesus said he had no use for such lukewarm people, and he would soon spew them out of His mouth, as he had no use for people He cannot trust. For God to trust me, I have to first trust Him. His offer of life is given full and free, but I have to come to Him as I am, with no pretence or hypocrisy. This is a God who cannot be deceived by the volume of support or deterred by the number in opposition. 

How does the verse above describe the person who believes, trusts in and relies on the Lord? This person is called blessed. This lifetime is not enough to process the full dimensions of God's blessings, but as you read the Word of God, it is clear that God does not have a problem blessing men with great abundance, but it is about the state of the heart of the person. Do you acknowledge at all times who the source of all you have or hold is? Is your hope in the false images of success that surround us, but cannot take us to the place God has prepared for us? Is my confidence in God, or in the tokens of men? No matter what my responses are, I must know that God cannot be mocked. I come to this God and lay down all my burdens, as well as my crowns, if any. I ask that He helps me to trust Him completely, so He can use my life as a display of His power, grace and mercy. Nothing else counts. God's time of favour is here.