My God In Whom I Trust Series

The Psalmist says in Psalm 91:2, “I will say to the LORD, "You are my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust."” (GW)

For those of us who were born and brought up in Christian homes, Psalm 91 is a familiar one, which many of us may have read or even memorized as a child. Nonetheless, in this study we will explore as to what it means to trust in God as the Psalmist declared about God in the above mentioned verse.

We will truly trust a person only when we get to know him or her. It is the same with God, we can trust Him only when we know who He is, and only when we are able to comprehend His divine attributes. When Jesus lived here on earth he chose twelve men to be His disciples. A closer look at their lives will help us understand why they decided to follow Jesus.

1. Peter, the fisherman

Peter was a fisherman by profession, but the day he met Jesus who filled his empty nets with a miraculous and bountiful catch, Peter chose to follow Jesus immediately without any hesitation. The reason Peter gave up his livelihood which included his boat and nets to follow after Jesus, was because Peter trusted Jesus. Peter believed that if he made Jesus his Master, He would take care of him, and provide him with all that he ever needed.

2. Matthew, the tax collector

Matthew who was another disciple, was a tax collector for the Roman government. Matthew always sought to align himself with the powerful and when he heard the call of Jesus, he understood that Jesus was much greater than the Roman Government that he was working for. So at the call of Jesus, he too left everything as it was, and followed after Jesus.

Every disciple of Jesus who followed Him did so because they trusted Him, and as a result heeded His call to follow Him. We too have at some point in our life made a decision to follow Jesus and to be His disciples. The point that each of us need to ponder is whether we have learnt to completely trust Him in all circumstances.

Trusting Jesus through the storms

We read in Matthew 8:23-24, “Then He went on board a fishing-boat, and His disciples followed Him. But suddenly there arose a great storm on the Lake, so that the waves threatened to engulf the boat; but He was asleep.” (WNT)

Some of the disciples of Jesus who accompanied Him on the boat that day were seasoned fishermen who had probably encountered many fierce storms in the very same sea. Strangely, the storm that challenged them that day seemed to be unlike any they had seen before. The winds were so fierce and the waves so boisterous that they were gripped with the fear of death. In the midst of such a raging storm, Jesus was fast asleep in that same boat.

When the disciples set out with Jesus, they got into the boat following Jesus. We read in Matthew 8:23 that the disciples simply did so because Jesus went on board a fishing boat. When the storm raged on with intensity, and threatened their very lives, they might have wondered if they did the right thing to follow Jesus into that boat. They had probably decided to follow Jesus with hope that they would have absolute safety, no storms whatsoever. But the storm they encountered, proved to be contradictory to their belief.

There may be those who are stressed out with such hardships, and are wondering as to why the Lord has not intervened or revealed Himself, to ease your situation. Do keep in mind that we have a God who is altogether trustworthy. Our many difficulties might make us speculate if we made the right decision to follow Jesus. The Lord wants to assure such people that there is no need to be perturbed, for the Lord is with us all the time. For others who might deliberate that they are weak in their faith, let us be comforted that even the disciples of Jesus, who were with Him, and saw all the wonders He performed, were perplexed in the midst of that storm.

We read in Matthew 8:25, “So they came and woke Him, crying, "Master, save us, we are drowning!"” (WNT)

Jesus and the disciples were in the same boat, but the way they addressed Jesus was as if He were somewhere else, and not with them in their crisis. That is why they said to Jesus, “Master, save us, we are drowning!” What they failed to realize was that Jesus was in their boat, and as long as He was there, there would be no way that their boat would drown, and they would die without fulfilling their life's mission. Jesus got up and ordered the winds and the waves to be still and they immediately calmed down.