Pastor John D Jakes

Trust matters. Trust is at the heart of so much of our lives. It is why we will buy a car from one dealer and not another. It is why we will pick a slightly more expensive paint over another. Because it matters so much, we had better trust the right people, right?

God addressed this important aspect of trust when He confronted His people through the prophet Isaiah.  He said, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them,  therefore this iniquity shall be to you  like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.” (Isaiah 30:12-14) Notice the words I emphasized above: because, trust, therefore. The people of God is Isaiah’s day trusted in oppression and perverseness (twisted thinking, not just immorality) to get what they wanted. They twisted God’s plan for people and used force to get ahead.

Trusting the wrong thing has consequences. We’ve all had that happen in our physical lives. Hopefully for you it was a funny lesson like sitting on a broken chair and falling on your rear end. My wife and I once tied a rope to a tree we were cutting down – it was partially rotten. Let’s just say we found ourselves on our bottoms laughing as the rope broke while we were pulling for all we were worth. That was an easy lesson. God warns us that the lesson may not be so easy when we trust in that which is not trustworthy for life. What was the result for them? Because of their trust in that which was not trustworthy they were going to experience pain. It was going to be the decimating kind of pain that would not give them much to rebuild with.

Now, let’s flip this over. Paul had a better perspective. He said, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?… But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31, 37-39) Did you see that word convinced? Paul trusted God. He had discovered that God could be trusted. Instead of discouragement in the face of persecution or suffering, Paul’s whole understanding of life flowed through the filter of God’s commitment to us. His trust in the One who is worthy of our trust changed everything! Instead of being knocked down, Paul was more than a conqueror. Instead of seeing loss or defeat, Paul saw victory.

That is the power of well-placed trust. It not only protects our life, it also protects our understanding of it. Well-placed trust helps us understand who we are and how we fit in this life. In Whom will we trust to live our lives?

Something to think about,

Pastor John