Trust the Lord Beyond What You Understand
Trust the Lord Beyond What You Understand
Trust the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. And what do you understand? That is what I woke to this morning. What I think I know, what I am able to understand and how to get outside of myself, so I can trust Him more.
I decided to spend some time really asking God about trust.
This was a cyclical purple hot wreck.
Do I trust you?
And I thought I heard a “yes.”
But then I thought, “Yes. Yes? Wait. Was that me saying yes or You saying yes?”
And then, for whatever reason, I was flooded with images of Yoda.
I chased that little green wizard for a little bit and then I started thinking like Yoda talks.
“Trust you do I?”
Look, I don’t have to tell you it is very hard to trust in the unseen. But I have to tell you, once Yoda was irradicated from my mind I realized this is the same theme I have been following for a while.
Working on trust is the same as working on belief.
My nieces, Audrey and Emma, had this weird, albeit hilarious thing they believed when they were little. They believed that armpits were private parts. We don’t know why they came to this conclusion. But if they were being snarky they would flash an armpit at you like they were frat boys mooning drivers out of a car window.
Once our oldest son took his shirt off at the pool. With his arms over his head, as he prepared to swim, the little pixies squealed and covered their eyes. Audrey yelped, “OH MY GOSH JOHN! Put your arms down! There are girls here!”
Weird. I know.
But this is what they believed. And it motivated them to giggles, squeals, and what they understood to be awkward encounters with armpits.
Their understanding was, armpits are just like bums and boobies. You should keep them covered.
With some age, this belief changed and now it is just a funny anecdote. I mean, they aren’t Amish. But had they never matured or changed this belief this would have been the whole of their understanding.
It would have been a weird day at the pool from now on.
And I am struck with this, if we are never willing to grow in trust, we are forever stuck in our own understanding. Which is basically a habit of being the same, no matter what we learn from experience.
And I further propose that we pray about the habit instead of leaning into the trust.
I know, because I have done it for years. The blanket claims of “I have trouble trusting God, so I pray that He will increase my trust.”
And I methodically leaned back and waited for Him to help me trust Him all the while focusing on my lack of trust, which was my understanding.
That did sound a bit like Yoda.
Allow me to break it down.
- Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
- Pray “I want to trust you more…”
- Wait and think about how I don’t trust and wonder how He will make me trust Him more.
- Then, I worry about how I am not trusting Him more.
- Next, I understand this is what I am used to, worrying and fretting about my understanding.
- Go back to number one. Repeat as necessary.
Here in the zone of our understanding, there appears to be a lack of trust in Him, simply because we have convinced ourselves that the faith walk is all about the work of belief.
What we believe, whether we are right or wrong, is easier than trusting in the unseen.
And yes, I know that is obvious. But I further purpose, that the subconscious has many a believer convinced that this is the whole of our faith walk.
It is like a thing to eventually conquer. And it probably won’t be done anytime soon. If believers are only ever working on their beliefs, we are hobbled in our own understanding. Thereby making it nearly impossible to ever fully trust in the Lord.
Granted, scripture tells us that we can ask for help in our unbelief (Mark 9:23-25). However, if you look at that story, it was a shout-out in a single incident. “Lord! Help my unbelief!” I don’t believe it was intended to be the entirety of the relationship with Jesus.
I don’t want my simple understanding to be the cornerstone of my faith.
My understanding is stubborn. It likes routine, also, Netflix, and soft cheeses. It does the same rote programs and is perfectly comfortable letting me lean in and do the same untrusting moves as yesterday and the day before.
And so this understanding monster is quick to remind me, “you lack trust, get us some more cheese and let’s pray we grow in trust while we flip through what is trending on Netflix.”
I know I have counted this as worthy work while neglecting to trust in the Lord with all my heart.
The heart is that voice that demands entertainment and something creamy on snack crackers.
Again, I don’t want my simple understanding to be the cornerstone of my faith.
If I allow that, I am just running through the motions of trying instead of basking in the glory of believing.
The good news is, once something new is called into our understanding, we advance. And this is my battle cry.
“My understanding is your understanding. I trust you, Lord.”
The more we say something the more we understand it to be the truth.
So, if we are constantly saying, “I struggle with trusting Him,” that is what we understand.
But if instead, we say, “I trust in the Lord with all my heart,” that is what we will understand.
The very best part of this is, then we are acknowledging Him in everything, instead of just some of it. And He will direct our paths.
A change of heart and understanding is basically changing what we are trying to understand and calling it done. This means boldly professing scripture as truth and our identity instead of coveting the words as if they were given to us to taunt.
I am most convicted of this, scripture wasn’t given to us as a means of torture or a list of recommendations. It was made flesh so that we could proclaim the truth, set captives free and trust the Lord with all of our hearts.
As Yoda would say, “there is no try, only do.”
Christ was bold. He spoke striking truth, and flat out ask us why we were so dull! (Mark 7:8)
And He also said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12)
I trust that was what He meant. Whether it is outside of my understanding is not the mark of my faith. Trusting Him is.
Off you go… trust you will.
Jesus be all over you. Love, J
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
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