Life Is A Matter Of Trust

Life is a Matter of Trust

Proverbs 3:5-6

Introduction

We place our trust in all sorts of things on a daily basis. If you have something on your calendar tomorrow, you are trusting that you will still be alive. Each day we trust that we are going to have power. We place a certain amount of trust in our families and our friends. We place trust in our public services such as the Post Office to deliver the mail, our police departments to catch criminals and our military to protect our nation. We place our trust in many different types of things or people. What do these all have in common? Sometimes these things or services fail or cannot fulfill every need.

Last year at this time our power had failed because of the hurricane that ripped through our area. Our families sometimes have let us down. There have been times when the Post office has lost pieces of mail. There are times when the police cannot catch every criminal, even though they want to. There are times when our military cannot fully protect us.

We have all felt the disastrous effects of days when our trust has failed us within our families, friends, or even the church. There will be times in our lives when confidences are broken, tears are shed, feelings are hurt and trust gets damaged.

All of this leads me to an extremely important question: who or what can you genuinely trust?

Tonight I want us to learn four important lessons about trust.

Read Scriptures: Proverbs 3:5-6

I. Trust is a heart issue

Vs. 5 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart”

There is no possible way for us to say we trust God and not allow Him to have our heart. God must have our heart to truly, have our trust. Many times, we say that we trust God but deep down we really don’t. We give Him a lot of spiritual lip service and move on with our lives. We just keep on doing our own thing and expect God to bless it. Let me ask a question: Is this, really the kind of people we want to be?

Why is the heart so important? What makes the heart so crucial to trust issues? In our society, we look at the heart as the place of emotions or desire. I have often heard people say: my heart isn’t in it, when they don’t want to do something. We automatically apply our context to the Bible and think it fits.

When we see here that trust is a matter of the heart we tend to be drawn toward the emotional end of things. The Old Testament looks at the heart differently. When Solomon writes here, it has little to do with about emotions. Why do I say this? Emotions are fickle and they will often let you down. Emotions can change in split seconds. Have you ever seen someone go from being fairly calm to boiling over? Emotions fail us and we lose our sense of direction in life.

When Solomon speaks about the heart, he is referring to the core of the human life. The heart was the center of everything. The heart is the essence of all we are as human beings. When Solomon says to trust God with all of your heart, he is saying trust God with all of your life, all of your possessions, all of your being and all that you will become. If we are honest, many times, our trust in God falls far short of this standard. When Solomon speaks about trust he is talking about the whole deal. All means exactly that all, not some, not parts, not a little but everything. The truth is that we either trust God with all or not at all.

II. Trust moves beyond our understanding

Vs. 5 “and lean not on your own understanding;”

One of the great truths of life is that there are times when life just doesn’t make sense. We have all experienced times in life when experience defies logic and leaves us with a complete lack of understanding.

Life can absolutely be beyond our ability to comprehend and beyond our ability to control. Trust means that you lean on God at all times, in all situations and in every possible way. Life is never fair, never totally free of pain and never beyond difficulties.

Do you think Abraham understood why he was promises numberless descendants when he had no son? Do you think that Joseph understood why he was sold into slavery by his brothers? Do you think that Daniel understood why he had to spend the night in the lion’s den? Do you think Paul understood why he was stoned, beaten and shipwrecked? Life doesn’t make sense but God makes sense out of life.