“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”
Psalm 56:3&4
ESV
There are many days where I feel like I can conquer the world. I know that whatever happens, God has got my back, His purposes will be fulfilled, and, even if something bad happens, He is working all things for my good (Romans 8:28)! On these days, I am holding fast to the promises of God for my life, and I am confident in my faith in His word! One such passage of the Bible that I recite to myself is Psalm 56:3-4:
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”
I put my trust in God! What can flesh do to me? For even if I get injured, sick, or die, I know that God has me! While I don’t feel like this all the time, and there are many days where my faith is less confident, I can honestly say that I have put my faith in God for MY life. What can flesh do to ME? And then, I get a call from a family member who is struggling through depression, addiction, relationship trouble, financial difficulties, or disease and my faith falters. My fear is back. It seems that, while I trust God with my own life, I have little trust in God for the lives of those I love. I ask God frantic questions, and propose my own plans and solutions that are just so obviously “better” and definitely less painful. I fear what flesh will do to those that I love. I fear seeing them struggle, and I fear their pain. I fear that, while I know that God will keep them, I do not know that they will keep God.
I was relating this story to a woman who is much wiser than I am, and she asked me a simple question, “Do you really trust God then? Or do you only trust Him with the things that you can control?” Many women in our office are counselors, and the one thing we say over and over again in counseling is that we cannot control the thoughts, feelings, and actions of those around us. We can only control our own thoughts, feelings and actions. I know this, like deep in me. I know that I have no control over the lives of those I love, and if they will ever come to trust and know the Lord as I do. The problem that this reveals is, that not only am I not trusting God with my family, I am not trusting God with myself. I am fooling myself into thinking that I trust the Lord with my life, when really I just think that I have enough control over myself to not give into fear and doubt if something comes and shakes up my life. Because if I truly believed all the promises of God, I would not just believe them for myself, but for everyone else as well. The Bible tells us over and over (eph 2:8&9, romans 12:3, 1 cor 12:9 to name a few) that it is God who grants us faith to believe in Him, and it is God who works in us to will and to act for His purposes. True trust is letting go of all control over your own life, and the lives of those you love. God will keep you, and He will keep your loved ones. With God, what can flesh do to them?
My Prayer For You
Father, I thank you for being in control. I thank you that your promises are not just for me, but that I can trust in your promises for the ones I love as well. I ask that you would give us true trust, and that we would let go of all control over our own lives, and over the lives of our loved ones. Help us to trust you more every day Lord. Amen
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