Building Lasting Values "Trusting God”

Building Lasting Values

“Trusting God”

1 Kings 11-12

Audio File: https://mega.nz/#!aAlEna4J!_jbH9Ep_whqGEiLq-0scck_Ypumtl5_E45HAhjJBSuc

The last time we were together we looked at the biblical value of trust in our series on building God’s House within us through the values and standards set forth in the Bible. Today, I’d like to expand upon that topic as we look at our need to trust God.

Open your Bibles to 1 Kings 11

I think it’s safe say that most Christians fear stepping out into the promises and commands of God. Mainly because they can’t see the future blessings these promises and commands of God hold and bring, and that’s because they’re focused upon their immediate problems.

Now, the only way this fear lessens is when we trust God more than what our immediate situation dictates. Or to say this another way, “Can we trust God? “Can We Trust God to Lead Us?”

And while God understands our fear, He continues to encourage trust Him. We see this in what the Bible says in the Book of Proverbs.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV)

The Apostle Paul also talks about this walk of trust.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV)

These two Scriptures, and many others, speak of our need to trust God, His word and His ways; and in the process stop trusting in our intellect and emotions, which cannot only be manipulated, but also lie to us as well. Instead, we are encouraged to trust in God who does not lie, and whose word never changes, but remains constant over time.

Now, the question of whether or not we can trust God is seen in the decisions we make.

George Barna noted that over 90 percent of church-going Christians do not make important decisions based on God’s word or in seeking His will. Instead, decisions are made based upon a person’s own intellect, peer opinions, or what they feel is right.

Christians marry, quit their jobs, accept other jobs, move into new homes, or move to other cities without even so much as a ten minute prayer, and there is little, of any, fasting in seeking God’s will. Further, God’s word, the Bible, and what it says plays a very small part in our everyday decisions.

Take for instance our giving the tithe, that is, the first 10 percent of our income that God tells us we need to give back to His work. What’s happened is that we have allowed fear to dictate our giving rather than trusting in God’s promise that when we give our tithe that He will bless us, removing the destroyer of our finances, and opening up His window of blessings over our lives (Malachi 3:6-12)

Haggai, a contemporary of the prophet Malachi, records the Lord telling His people that the reason they never seem to have enough to meet their needs, and why there always seems to be more money going out than coming in, is because they have neglected this principle by ignoring the Lord’s house while they are busy building up their own houses (Haggai 1).

Therefore, it all centers on our trusting God more than what we may think, or what our emotions dictate about the situation or circumstance we find ourselves in. And the only way we can passionately pursue God’s presence is to place the full of our trust in God, especially as we reach out in His love to the community around us. Remember, our mission at Living Waters Fellowship is to make a difference in our community for Christ.

Now, this whole subject of trusting God may sound good, and it makes for good copy, but if we’re honest, it completely unnerves us, because it goes against the modern mindset, and our desire to take charge, call our own shots, and to be our own bosses, which is at the very heart of sin, and was actually the first sin recorded.

There is an excellent example in the Bible of just what happens when someone begins to trust in self more than in God and His promises. It is found in the first book of Kings, and is the story os Jeroboam.

Jeroboam was a hard worker. The Bible calls him industrious, and on top of that God had gifted him in the area of leadership. So gifted was Jeroboam that Solomon promoted him over the workers from the tribe of Joseph.

One day as he was going about his work, the prophet Ahijah came to him and told him of the Lord’s desire to make him the ruler over ten of the tribes of Israel.

“So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel. Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.” (1 Kings 11:37-38)