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PROGRAM D-7862
Do you find it difficult to truly trust God with all aspects of your life? I believe this fear of trusting God is very real with many Christians. It was with me for ten years: I refused to allow the Lord to control my life because I was afraid he would punish me for past failures or take my life in a direction that would be miserable and make me unhappy.
I’ve discovered in the many years since how foolish I was to fail to trust God, and I’ve begun to understand that I didn’t trust him because I didn’t clearly understand the nature of God. When we have a clear understanding of who God is as Scripture tells us, we really have two simple options—to believe it or not to believe it. If we believe God is who he says he is, trusting him becomes the only logical thing to do. Nothing else makes any sense. To fail to trust him is to say, by our actions, that God cannot be who he says he is; it is, in effect, to say that he is not trustworthy.
What are these basic characteristics of God that should lead us to trust him? We learn from Scripture that our God is the only God. In the book of Isaiah, the Lord says, “I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one” (Isaiah 44:6,8). So first, we understand that we are worshipping the true and only God.
Secondly, we need to understand his power. He is the Creator of all that ever existed. He said, “I am the Lord, the maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself. . . .” (Isaiah 44:24). God spoke and the worlds came into being, created out of nothing.
The Psalmist said, “I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths” (Psalm 135:5-6).
Thirdly, our God is holy and perfect. He does not make mistakes.
Can you honestly say that you believe the God you worship is the only God, the Creator, all-powerful and wise, holy and perfect, and that he makes no mistakes? Please don’t glibly answer that question; give it some thought. If you say that you do indeed believe God is who he says he is, it leads to some inevitable conclusions and decisions you must make.