Sermon Tone Analysis

How to Trust in God

 

I’ve heard that it was an athiest……..we should probably refer to him as a practical atheist …(living as if there is no God)…Perhaps it’s just best to say it was a man was hiking in the mountains.

So taken with the scenery he didn’t notice he was about to walk off a cliff……As he was falling he was able to grab a branch that was protruding out of the side of the mountain….In desperation, he cried out….”God if you are up there can you help me!?”

 

A voice from heaven declares “Trust me, and let go of the branch”…….

The man paused, thought and then said “Is there anyone else out there”…..The story is fictitious but the sentiment is not…..

 

It’s difficult to trust in something you cannot see…

 

*Trust* is getting tricky.

In our society, we are discovering with the dawn of every day how hard it is to trust.

Pick an area of life and you will find trust, or the lack of it, as the issue that affects all decisions.

There are relationships….where

trust is either affirmed or neglected.

There are governments….that

spend billions of $$ convincing us that they can be trusted

There are institutions….financial,

educational, and health…..that want us to trust their experience, expertise, and resources…….

And then you come to church…..and we tell you to Trust God……Thankfully God has given us His word that tells the truth about Him.

And in Proverbs 3 we are going to look at a set of verses that tell us not why….but

HOW

 

To trust.

In God.

Prov 3:5-7

/5Trust in the LORD with all your heart /

/and lean not on your own understanding; /

/6in all your ways acknowledge him,/

/and he will make your paths straight.

/ 

 

NIV

 

*1.

Trusting God is a heart commitment.*

/5Trust in the LORD with all your heart/

 

St.

Augustine said “our hearts are restless til they find their rest in Thee”

 

Trust is an emotional commitment where we look, listen, hear and feel that there is a God out there that is bigger than our problem, larger than our solution and wider than our frame.

People begin to trust when they since an opportunity or a solution to the problem they are facing.

When hope is gone, you have no evidence as to what you should do, you take charge of your feelings and sense that you will commit your emotions to the one who gave you those emotions.

Psalm 84:12 (NIV)

12 O Lord Almighty, *blessed* is the man who trusts in you.

[1]

 

 

*2.

**Trusting God is a Decision*

* *

An act of the will

* *

/and lean not on your own understanding;/

/ /

Once the dust settles and the circumstances continue on, it often becomes obvious that nothing changes after the emotional commitment.

The songs have been sung, the prayers prayed, and now its time to get on with the task of life.

* *

*Philippians says the Peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus:*

* *

Our *hearts *AND our *minds.*

Our heart is the seat of our emotions.

Where our loyalties and our commitments lie.

Our minds of course is what represents our ability to reason.

To think clearly.

In times of difficulty the heart and the mind are subject to attack.

On one hand we have the feelings trying to interpret the events around us, on the other the mind is coming up with plausible reasons as to what is really going on.

The heart feels, and the mind tries to make sense of the feeling.

\\ You may have heard the term: Virtual reality.

Random House defines virtual as “being such in force or effect, but not exactly such” So, virtual is reality is a reality that looks and feels real but in essence is not real.

*We *have to make the decision to not lean on our own understanding.

It infers a time of rest after an emotional commitment has been made.

“I will trust in the Lord”  “Though none go with me, still I will follow”, Now the dust has settled.

We decide that when it involves trusting God, our capacity to understand or describe the activity of God  must be avoided.

We cannot understand what God is doing, we have to trust him, we can’t rely on our own interpretation of the events around us.

In our world we are rewarded for leaning on our understanding, we depend on the collective results of news, technology, experience, knowledge and training as the bedrock of interpreting events around us.

But when it comes to trusting in God we have to make a conscious decision to not pull up that directory.

The understanding and experience is there, but we don’t lean on it.

LEAN NOT, that is to say DO NOT LEAN.

We shouldn’t let our education our expertise or our experience be the final rubrick upon which our trust is based.

Scripture asks the question: 

 

/Who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should be His counselor?/

*3.

**Trusting God involves paying attention to His presence.*

* *

/6in all your ways …………./

* *

This scripture talks about us.

Our ways, our coming and our going, whether we wake or sleep, We are all different, but God knows our ways.

* *

*Ps 139:7-8*

*7Where can I go from your Spirit?*

*Where can I flee from your presence?

*

*8If I go up to the heavens, you are there;*

*if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

*

*NIV*

* *

\\ /acknowledge Him,/

* *

*Heb 12:2-3*

*2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

**3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

*

*NIV*

* *

* *

* *

*Ps 118:8-9*

*8It is better to take refuge in the LORD *

*than to trust in man.

*

*9It is better to take refuge in the LORD *

*than to trust in princes.*

*NIV*

 

Nahum 1:7 (NIV)

7 The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.

He cares for those who trust in him,

[1]

 

In His Presence there is fullness of joy at His right hand, pleasures forevermore.

Oh what fellowship Divine!

I am His and He is mine.

*4.

**Trusting God means letting  Him do His work*

 

/and he will make your paths straight.

/ 

 

 

The other portions of these verses require the activity to begin with us, but there comes a point where we stop.

We make the emotional commitment, We make that internal decision, We look for the presence of God, but finally, we let Him do the work.

We stand still and see the salvation of God.

 

*Ps 56:3-4*

*3When I am afraid,*

*I will trust in you.

*

*4In God, whose word I praise,*

*in God I trust; I will not be afraid.*