Copyright 2007 by Melissa Meeks – All Rights Reserved
Trust, belief and faith are not feelings nor are they airy, obscure concepts. They are choices that are displayed in my actions of obedience to the object of my trust, belief and faith. This is especially true when it seems there is no logical reason for obeying or the expected results of an action, in society’s view, would be undesirable. However God honors our trust in Him and has never ceased to honor His promises nor broken faith with those who believe Him and come to Him. Many of the Scripture passages which share God’s promises also state or imply actions we are responsible for choosing to perform. I do want to clarify that God’s promises, while some are a result of our choices as seen in context in Scriptures, are not something we earn or deserve. He gives them and fulfills them faithfully but that doesn’t relieve us of our responsibilities in the relationship. As stated earlier – trust, belief and faith are choices evidenced by my behavior and actions. God honors those choices by fulfilling the promises of His Word.
In the last 6 years I have been unemployed for a period of time at four different points that I recall. The first three points took months before I found new employment, as well as a number of weeks or months to process my reactions and bounce back from the emotional turmoil I experienced. Looking back on these periods, I can now see that I was relying on myself to “fix” things and make it all come out right instead of giving everything up to God’s control. In my mind my life was “out of control” at the time and my human nature desired something I could hang onto and have a sense of directing. This last time around I still reacted to the circumstances and experienced some degree of emotional turmoil at the onset, however, I spent significantly less time working things through to a point where it wasn’t a hindrance to my functioning “normally”. I quickly let go and allowed God to take the reins that had never really been in my hands to start with. As one of my friends recently mentioned, “I bounced back very quickly despite the situation and my reactions to it.” This friend also told me that based on his experiences – the “bounce-back” time is a much more accurate measure of how we handle a situation than the resolution time for that situation.
When I experience trials or tough circumstances I find that keeping my focus on the circumstances encourages a negative attitude but making choices which quickly turn the focus back to the Lord helps me to “bounce back” quicker. When I am in the midst of these troubles it helps to commit to myself and the Lord, with His help of course, to take steps that keep my focus where it belongs.
This time I chose not to camp in the “poor me” stage, beating myself up for things that were in the past and prolonging the emotional canyon as well as cutting it increasingly deeper. Continuing to struggle along and do things myself in the past only added to the frustration and depression that already hounded me in response to the job losses. However, this time while I didn’t just sit there waiting for God to magically “fix” everything for me, I moved forward and allowed God to steer me as I took steps whether or not they were initially in the “right” direction. The course of movement isn’t as important as the choice to move and the fact of following through on that choice. As another friend of mine says, “God can’t steer a parked car.”
When I choose to trust Him it is displayed through my actions. Stepping out and continuing to move while letting go of my human desire to “be the one in control” (or so it seems at the time). When I give Him the reins He honors my faith. The hopes and desires He has planted in me soon begin to make themselves known and start to bud. Through this letting go process of trusting He also blesses me in proportion to the level of confidence I choose to place in His steadfast, reliable character and promises. This is even more true when the outcome of the actions I take because of trusting Him is outside my view at the time, as that is truly faith.
As I read and study God’s Word it is helpful to think, “What promises does this passage offer for me personally? What are the choices or actions that are my responsibility in order to claim these promises, in other words how can I show God I trust that He will keep those promises to me? What choices do I make now on a daily basis and what choices should I start making telling God and others that I trust His Word explicitly?”
April 2007
Melissa Meeks
