Lately, God has been dealing with me on the issue of trust. How about you? Does trust come easily for you? Not for me. I grew up in an environment that didn’t foster much trust. I never knew my father, and none of my stepfathers stuck around long enough for me to develop any trust in them. The lesson I learned growing up was that people leave and can’t be counted on. When I gave my life over to God, I really struggled with trusting Him. For goodness’ sake, I can’t even see Him. How can I trust Him? How do I know He’s there? How do I know He’s got my back?
For years, I struggled to believe Him, to believe His word. Yet, somewhere along the way, I began to really trust Him for the bigger issues in my life, like making it to heaven and my kids’ salvation and having enough money to live on . . . those sorts of things.
But what about the little things? I’m talking about things that hit your life every day. Responsibilities, pressures, pains, failures, hurts, people who drive us nuts! Does God care about these things? Surely He’s too busy with huge world issues and with saving the lost to be concerned about my petty problems. So, I never really bothered God about the little things, and because I never bothered Him with them, I never learned to trust Him in the details.
I think part of my problem is that I all too often picture God as a wise old man sitting on a throne in heaven surrounded by light. He’s somewhere far away, in a place I can’t go. He’s busy. He doesn’t notice that I’m stressed or busy or frustrated. But the Bible says something very different.
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24 NIV).
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near (Philippians 4:5 NIV).
Come near to God and he will come near to you (Hebrews 4:8 NIV).
My husband is a scientist. I don’t understand much of what he says, but he got me interested in the topic of dimensions. Scientists have identified four dimensions in our universe: Length, height, width, and time. But there are theories (string theory among them) that say several more dimensions exist beyond our four. As my husband explained it to me, there could be creatures or beings or things in dimension 5, 6, or 7 that are as solid and tangible as we are, but we cannot see them. Wow! This changed my entire perspective. You mean the Lord could be standing right beside me, touching me, smiling at me, and I can’t see or feel Him? Amazing.
The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV).
Do you know God rejoices over you with singing? God is with you. He is right beside you now! He cares whether you’re stressed or frightened or you have a headache, or your feelings just got hurt. I’m not at all advocating that we walk around absorbed with our own petty problems. But it’s so important for us to know that God cares about every detail of our lives.
If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand (Psalm 37:23–24 NIV).
Set your course for the spiritual dimension! God is with you, and He wants to be involved in every detail of your life. He wants to help you.
MaryLu Tyndall