Trusting and Knowing

Would you say that the verse of scripture in Daniel 11:32b (but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits) and our theme Bible passage in Proverbs 3:5 (trust in the Lord with all your heart) have anything in common?

For me, they both affirm each other. When you know your God, it definitely comes with trust and when you trust Him, He shows Himself to  you, thereby making you know Him. I’m sorry if I am not able to shed sufficient light with my explanation.

I saw a fine example of this paradox in 1 Samuel 14 when Jonathan decided to go against the Philistines with his armour bearer alone. Jonathan didn’t tell his father that he wanted to embark on such an adventure. There were more than enough soldiers (about six hundred men). I don’t  think the issue was that of lack of those to go to the battle.

Jonathan  had simply gotten to know God so much that he could trust Him with and in any situation. In fact, he created this particular situation just to demonstrate how powerful his God is.

Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father. 1 Samuel 14:1 NKJV

Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.”
1 Samuel 14:6

God can do anything! Jonathan knew that God could deliver the Philistines to them through one man as He did with David, so why go with a troop this time. Trust and knowledge in action.

Action Point
Get the  knowledge that gets you on the platform of exploits.

Jehoshaphat’s loss

If we must be divinely led, then it's important to complete the cycle of trusting God, acknowleding Him and not depending on ourselves. Did you say why ‘trusting and acknowledging’? It’s possible to trust God yet not acknowledge Him in all our ways, and it’s also possible to acknowledge Him without trusting Him. Well, that’s a message for another day.

When we do not allow God to chart the course of our lives, failure is inevitable. Jehoshaphat was a man who encountered  God’s greatness and power in a very strange dimension (2 Chronicles 20:5-12,  21-25). I don’t think he had any problems with trusting God. If you read 2 Chronicles 20:6-9, you would understand the depth of Jehoshaphat’s knowledge of Who God is.

However, Jehoshaphat made a serious mistake in business because He felt there were areas of his life which was within his control and left God out.

After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who acted very wickedly. And he allied himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion Geber. But Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your works.” Then the ships were wrecked, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish. 2 Chron. 20:35-37 NKJV

God’s Word in Prov. 3:6 admonishes us to acknowledge God in ALL our ways...not some of them. Trusting God must be accompanied with acknowledging Him if we must be divinely led.

Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry EVERYTHING to God in prayer (a line from ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’).

Action Point
In all your ways acknowledge Him.

Abraham's Ruthless Trust

I would never have considered using a phrase like ‘ruthless trust’ until I saw Brennan Manning’s book, Ruthless Trust.
One of the many definitions of the word ruthless is- feeling or showing no mercy; hardhearted.
If we had to consider the kind of trust that father Abraham had in God, you would agree that it was in every sense ruthless, devoid of every form of sentiment. In fact it was die-hard, hardhearted trust!
How else can anyone explain embarking on a journey without a known destination? God didn’t mention any city that was familiar to Abraham yet he believed God to the point of mobilizing every member of his household on the blind date!
Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.
4, So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken to him...
Gen. 12:1, 4 NKJV.
There was also the epic display of ruthless trust; agreeing to sacrifice a child he waited over two decades to receive. Abraham didn’t consider all the parties involved in this transaction- Sarah who had her first child at 90 or their innocent son, Isaac. Sarah would certainly have been heart broken if she had lost Isaac. Was it that Abraham didn’t care? No. He was confident that even after sacrificing Isaac to God, he would still have him back. Can you beat that?
😳
...concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Hebrews 11:19 NKJV

How much are you willing to trust God? Would you follow Him on a trip to a known city if He didn’t tell you the hotel and the chauffeur that will attend to you?
God honoured Abraham’s trust in Him and will honour us when we also demonstrate our confidence in Him (Hebrew 10:35).

Prayer Point
Lord, please help me to always remember that you will never give me stone for bread.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year to you and your loved ones. May the Good Lord bless you in all that pertains to life and godliness.
May your 2017 be filled with testimonies of God's love and faithfulness.

Whatever plans or resolutions, may they be such that will help you keep stead with the purpose of God for your life.

God bless you!