Faith and Trust

This post is to discuss faith and trust in the Lord. The reason for this choice is there has been so much going on in so many peoples lives lately that has had many questioning why would this happen, why aren’t my prayers being answered, is He listening…The list goes on.

Our Pastor has been talking about Faith and Trust a lot. I’ve heard others talk about one or the other or both often. It’s been a big subject more than usual lately. It’s been placed on my heart to take my time and really look at this subject in the Bible and share what I find and learn. One could say, “Well if you’re a Christian, a believer, then trust and faith should not be a problem.”

Well in a sense it seems it should be this way. When we read Scriptures, we know it is stated over and over again how we are to trust our Lord God for everything. We should have faith in the Lord as well. How could we lose it? Why should this be a subject that needs to be discussed?

For one, we are of the flesh, like it or not. We are not perfect, nor will we ever be. There are events in our lives that can leave us wondering, questioning, doubting, etc. For instance, this is something that happened recently to someone. They prayed for safety for their son when driving for the first time. Shortly after that, the son had an accident, (not his fault). Thankfully he was not hurt, but it put the family in a worse financial situation than they had been in. The question came, how can this happen right after praying about it? Why would God do this?

This is where faith and trust comes into play, but we fail to see it as naturally we are confused, and it’s hard to see at the time. This is when it is good to talk with others we know that are in the Lord. It is easy for someone that is not going through that situation to remind them that even though it doesn’t seem right, it’s confusing; God has a plan in our lives. We are a works in the making. He may have done that to teach the son something, or the parent, or the family. We don’t know and may never know.

The important thing here is we need to hold onto our faith in knowing that God is there. He already knew this situation would happen. He had it planned for a reason. The good thing is the Lord was thanked for keeping the son safe and not injured. Blessings, count our blessings. When we are able to wave off the negative aspects and look at the blessings, we can overcome our displeasure's and questionings a whole lot easier. Have faith and trust that He is doing what is needed to be done. He has a good reason for what happened. Perhaps even it happened to teach the other party involved a lesson and you were used as He knew you could handle it. You were the one with the faith and they are not. We never know. Just believe, trust, and keep the faith!

I’m going to do this subject in a series. I don’t know how many days I’ll do this, but what ever it takes without making it too long each time. And then there will be other subjects to follow. It was placed on my heart to pick a different subject from the concordance and discuss it here. I thought okay. I know I’ll learn more from this, and hopefully it will help others and prayerfully lead at least one, but hopefully more to the Lord. I would like to know how you all feel about this. Be honest.

I’m going to end today’s post with this Scripture from Matthew 6:25-34 (NKJV) and the definitions for Faith and Trust taken from Merriam Websters On-line Dictionary.

Faith: 1 allegiance to duty or a person; fidelity to one's promises; sincerity of one's intentions.
2 belief and trust in and loyalty to God; belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion; firm belief in something for which there is no proof
3 Something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially: a system of religious beliefs.

Trust 1 assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something; One in which confidence is placed.
2 Dependence on something future or contingent; reliance on future payment for property (as merchandise) delivered.
3 a property interest held by one person for the benefit of another; a combination of firms or corporations formed by a legal agreement; one that reduces or threatens to reduce competition.
4 a change or duty imposed in faith or confidence or as a condition of some relationship; something committed or entrusted to one to be used or cared for in the interest of another; responsible charge or office

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink: nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more that clothing?”
26 “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
27 “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toll nor spin;”
29 “and yet I say to you that even Solomon, in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
30 “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?’ Or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?”
32 “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.”
34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Matthew 6:25-34 (Message Bible).

25-26 “If you decide for God; living a life of God-worship; it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes, or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to Him than birds.”
27-29 “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.”
30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think He’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do His best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way He works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how He works. Steep you life in God-reality, God-initiative, and God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”
34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”