LifeLink Devotions for Friday, January 31, 2025

Over the next few devotionals, I want to share some personal stories of how God’s wisdom has been proven in my life. It all comes from two popular verses in Proverbs. I remember memorizing them in Sunday School as a child, and they have stuck with me. Here’s how I learned them.

Proverbs 3:5-6  “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.”

What does it look like to trust in the Lord with all your heart? They key is to understand the word “all”. It means all. Not some or most, but all. Is that even possible?

There are many Bible stories of men and women who trusted God with all their heart for a moment, but not permanently. I think permanent trust is hard to achieve while we live in these bodies of flesh. Abraham trusted God completely when asked to move to a new land, but his trust wavered when he got there. Moses trusted God in the wilderness until the second time they needed water and he didn’t follow God’s instructions. The Apostle Paul trusted God until he had a disagreement with John Mark and Barnabas.

We all have moments when we trust God completely, but like the people in Scripture we have too many moments of trusting ourselves.

Late in 1986 I was living a comfortable life in South Dakota. My wife and three children were being taken care of as I worked a full-time job, and I was also living out God’s call on my life to pastor a church. Then God called. He directed my wife and me to begin planning to enter ministry full time and leave behind the comforts of our home and possessions. We obeyed. In early 1987 we accepted the call to a church over 300 miles away. It would cut our salary by almost 40%. We sold our home, my classic 1964 Ford pickup, our boat, my guns, and planned for major budget reductions because we trusted what God was doing to fulfill His call on our lives. It was the most joyous and rewarding obedience in our lives.

Did I continue to trust God explicitly? No, and there are far to many stories to prove my trust in myself. But this I know. God is faithful, and will never stop welcoming us into a relationship of complete trust. So no matter what your trust level is right now, set a goal to make trust complete, and then strive for trust to become permanent. Imagine what God can do with a person who trusts Him in ALL things.

Pastor John