Trust Is A Must

Trust is A Must

Proverbs 3:5-6,

September 21, 2008

Morning Service

Introduction

On May 17, 2008, Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman and his family suffered a devastating loss. Five-year-old adopted daughter, Maria, was struck and killed when Chapman’s seventeen-year-old son was backing his SUV out of the family’s driveway. After much prayer and counsel, Chapman recently returned to touring in promotion for his newest album.

"Blessed Be Your Name" was also the first song Chapman sang May 21, the day of Maria’s death, when he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to sing again. Inspired by the story of Job, at one point the lyrics repeat, "He gives and takes away."

"As I sang this song … it wasn’t a song, it was a cry, a scream, a prayer," Chapman explained to the audience of nearly 5,000. "I found an amazing comfort and peace that surpasses all understanding."

Chapman also shared that after Maria’s death, he’d reconsidered the words to all his songs and whether he could still sing—and believe—them. Instead, losing his little girl brought the meaning of some of those songs into sharper focus. One example was "Yours," which addresses how everything in the world belongs to God.

"In this song, in particular, I had to come to a new realization," he said. "There’s not an inch of creation that God doesn’t look at and say ’all of that’s mine.’"

The Choice of Trust

What an amazing statement of trust in God! 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 or in some cases, that we will have our power restored. 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.

The problem of Failed Trust

This week our power supplier has failed because of the weather 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?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

We learn four important lessons about trust

1. Trust is a heart issue

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.

The Heart of the Matter

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.

Solomon’s Perspective

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 was 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 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.