The Meaning Of Trusting The Lord

7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NIV)

The above tells us the benefits we gain by putting our trust and confidence in the Lord. Ask yourself this question:

· Do you trust the Lord?
· Do you have full confidence in him?

I am sure many Christian would have come up with a politically correct answer and said “yes” but what they have in their minds are different from what the above verse says.

When the religious people said they trust God, what they truly meant is they believe the situation around them is caused by God. Their role as believers is to accept them passively.

· If they are sick, they believe God made them sick for some reasons. Trusting God means accepting his “gift” of sickness and believing that God has a purpose to make them sick.

· If they got into an accident and broke their legs, they believe God planned for the accident for some reasons. Trusting God means accepting his “gift” of accident and believing that God has a purpose to break their legs.

· If they failed in an examination, they believe God made them fail for some reasons. Trusting God means accepting his “gift” of failure and believing that God has a purpose to make them fail.

· If they are poor, they believe God made them poor for some reasons. Trusting God means accepting his “gift” of poverty and believing that God has a purpose to make them poor.

The above are not exhaustive but I believe you got the idea. However, the truth is God is not a sadist. He will never do perverted things on us for any reason. When God tells us to trust in him, He wants us to tap into his resources so that we can be the people he wants us to be, according to Jeremiah 17:8.

8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:8 (NIV)

Let me show you the detailed meaning of the above verse:

“He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.”
The writer uses the analogy of a tree. When a tree is planted by the water and has its roots by the stream, it has access to unlimited water supply. This tree will never run out of water.

Water represents refreshment and the necessity of life. When we live our lives in full confidence to the Lord, we can live our lives with great confidence no matter how the situation around us changes because our supply of refreshments and the necessities will never run out. There is always hope for us.

“It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.”
Heat represents the unpleasant things we face. If you have been living in the real world long enough, you will know that things can invariably go wrong.

· No matter how well you take care of your health, there will be some sickness attacking you.

· No matter how well you manage your finances, there are bound to be some financial difficulties from time to time.

· No matter how well you do your job, there will still be some hiccups either caused by you or somebody else.

In short, welcome to the real world. However, if your roots are strong through your faith in the Lord, you shall be able to overcome all these difficulties. You don’t have to fear when the heat comes. Your leaves are always green.

“It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Drought represents a prolonged state of an unpleasant situation like an economic crises. Many of us are living in a drought now. Just as we thought the sub-prime crises in the United States is bad, the European countries are facing the same problem. How to survive, let alone get rich in such situation?

However, if you have truly put your trust and confidence in the Lord, you do not have to worry at all because the Lord knows how to do his job. The blessing of God is not depended on our external environment. The economic statistic is not the source of our prosperity. The Lord is.

This is why we can bear fruit even in a year of drought.

Conclusion.
Trusting and having confidence in the Lord is not about accepting the situation around us passively. They are about living our lives boldly, positively and with full confidence that we can overcome all the trials, difficulties and challenges that are in our way.

God’s Plan For Us

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

I believe all Christians know that God has plans for each of us. The only difference is in what type of plan God has for us. When I was in my previous religious church, I could only think of “missions” each time I think of God’s plan for me. I hated missions. So, by extension I hated God’s plan. I tried to avoid being called as much as I could. I am not surprised that all religious churches that are under the bondage of theology preach the same thing. Yet the above verse says otherwise.

The truth is, God has plans for us but those plans are not about missions. They are good for us. They give us future and hope. What type of future and hope does God want us to have? Based on the whole context of the Bible and the fact that God is not a sadist, we can deduce that the future and hope that God wants us to have must be prosperity in every area of our lives. God wants us to have healthy bodies, strong families, good friends, successful careers, blooming business, a lot of money in the bank and everything else that we desire. The Bible is filled with the promises of God wanting us to live prosperous lives.

This means we don’t have to scheme to make God give us what we want. God wants us to be rich more that we want to be rich. When we pray, we are not trying to persuade God to give us what we ask for as though he has no intention of doing so in the first place. The above verse has made it clear that it is the intention of our God to give us good future and hope. So, stop trying to make God do what he wants to do in the first place.

Instead, our role as believers is to position ourselves to receive the blessings God has given to us. When we pray, confess, tithe and practice any other spiritual disciple, we are effectively positioning ourselves to receive the prosperity from God. We are not trying to persuade God. This is something we must always remember in our spiritual walk. God has made it clear that he wants us rich. We don’t have to persuade him to do so.

How about missions? Does God want us to do missions? The answer is, mission is a by-product of God’s plan for us. Think. How are we going to convince the rest of the world that they need to believe in Jesus? Will you tell them that Jesus is God because the Bible says so and the Bible is the true Word of God because it says it is? The real problem the world has with the Gospel comes from the bad impression given by those religious “Christians” out there. They thought those religious “Christians” are real Christians and thus avoid becoming one.

The case in point is the event that happened in Singapore a few months ago. A few women from a local church ganged up to seize power in a women NGO. The reason for the coup was they accused the organization of promoting homosexual lifestyles based on some flimsy reasoning. These female crusaders became the persecutors, judges and executioners at the same time. Their evil acts had sparked outrage in the entire nation. Even the church pastor openly supported their evil acts. To cut the long story short, the women in Singapore joined forces to throw these crusaders out. The entire event gave the impression that Christians are evil and cannot be trusted.

It is up to us, the true Christians to correct those impressions. What are we supposed to do? The answer is to live the life God wants us to live. We need to live in accordance to the good plan God has for us as stated in the above verse. When our lives display clear prosperity like good health, abundant wealth, successful careers and blooming businesses, we become lights in the midst of darkness. We become attractive. People will be attracted to us because they want to live the same lives as us. They will then be more receptive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the real mission God has in mind for us.

Do you intend to obey?