Do You Really Trust God to Take Care of You?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”

Psalm 37:3-5

 

PONDER THIS

Have you ever thought about how worry reflects on God? Suppose I came home when my children were young and saw them in the corner whimpering, whining, and trembling. I ask, “What’s wrong?” and they said, “Daddy, we’re afraid we’re not going to have food to eat tomorrow. We’re worried that we’re not going to have a bed to sleep in. We’re not going to have any clothes to wear.” How would that make me feel as they evidently think I’m not able to take care of them? I am only a human, so perhaps I could not take care of them in every circumstance. But this is never the case for God. Worry is a way of saying, “I don’t believe God can provide for me.”

Later in this Psalm, David said, “I have been young, and now I am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread” (Psalm 37:25). God’s Word repeatedly says not to worry. That’s one thing for God to say, but how do we do it? Thank God, not only do we have the command, but we also have the recipe and the power. So, let me give you God’s recipe for how to be blessed over being stressed. What we’re talking about is not the subtraction of problems. You need to trust the Lord when resources vanish. Look at Psalm 37:3, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” This Hebrew word for trust has at its root the idea of being face down on the ground with no visible means of support. Trust completely in the Lord. God says you’ll dwell in the land, and you will be fed.

When was a time your resources vanished? How did you respond?

How prone are you toward worry? What are ways you remind yourself of God’s provision when that happens?

PRACTICE THIS

Read Philippians 4:6-7. Let your requests be known to God in prayer.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Suffering That Crushes Faith

“They have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.” (Mark 4:17)

The faith of some is broken instead of built by suffering. Jesus knew this and described it here in the parable of the four soils. Some people who hear the word receive it at first with gladness, but then suffering makes them fall away.

So, affliction does not always make faith stronger. Sometimes it crushes faith. And then come true the paradoxical words of Jesus, “The one who has not, even what he has will be taken” (Mark 4:25).

This is a call for us to endure suffering with firm faith in future grace, so that our faith might grow stronger and not be proved vain (1 Corinthians 15:2). “To the one who has, more will be given” (Mark 4:25). Knowing God’s design in suffering is one of the main means of growing through suffering.

If you think your suffering is pointless, or that God is not in control, or that he is whimsical or cruel, then your suffering will drive you from God, instead of driving you from everything but God — as it should. So, it is crucial that faith in God’s grace includes the faith that he gives grace through suffering.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Isaiah 8:14-15

[14] And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. [15] And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

Matthew 11:6

[6] And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Galatians 5:7-8

[7] You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? [8] This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

Galatians 1:6-8

No Other Gospel

[6] I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—[7] not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. [8] But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

God Wants to Cleanse Not Accuse

PRAY OVER THIS

“And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.’ But he said to Him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.’ Then He said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.’” Luke 22:31-34

 

PONDER THIS

Why do you sift wheat? To get the impurities out—the sticks and stones. Why does Satan want to do that? Satan wants to get those sticks and those stones—those sins in our lives—so he can accuse us. Why does Jesus allow it? So He can cleanse us! He wants those sticks and those stones out of our lives. He wants us to be pure.

Satan will find sin in your life to accuse you. And what is the result of accusation? Despondency and fear. What is the result of conviction? Repentance, cleansing, and victory. Don’t let the devil condemn you when Jesus Christ wants to cleanse you by convicting you. There is a Savior today in glory praying for you. He wants you to have revival. The Bible says, “He always lives to make intercession for [you]” (Hebrews 7:25). And if, like Simon Peter, you’ve failed—and we all have to some degree—God is a God of fresh beginnings. When that rooster crowed, a new day was dawning for Simon Peter. No matter how you’ve failed, He still has compassion. And no matter your disobedience, He is still committed to you. He will see you through.

What are some impurities and sins recently revealed in your life? How have you responded?

What do you do when you feel convicted about something? What does this show regarding what you believe about God?

PRACTICE THIS

Confess your sin and impurities to God and ask Him to cleanse you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Suffering That Strengthens Faith

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. (James 1:2–3)

Strange as it may seem, one of the primary purposes of being shaken by suffering is to make our faith more unshakable.

Faith is like muscle tissue: if you stress it to the limit, it gets stronger, not weaker. That’s what James means here. When your faith is threatened and tested and stretched to the breaking point, the result is greater capacity to endure. He calls it steadfastness.

God loves faith so much that he will test it to the breaking point so as to keep it pure and strong. For example, he did this to Paul according to 2 Corinthians 1:8–9,

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

The words “but that was to” show that there was a purpose in this extreme suffering: it was in order that — for the purpose that — Paul would not rely on himself and his resources, but on God — specifically the promised grace of God in raising the dead.

God so values our wholehearted faith that he will, graciously, if necessary, take away everything else in the world that we might be tempted to rely on — even life itself. His aim is that we grow deeper and stronger in our confidence that he himself will be all we need.

He wants us to be able to say with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25–26).

John Piper 

Bible Study

2 Corinthians 12:10

[10] For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Colossians 1:11

[11] being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

Matthew 5:12

[12] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

1 Peter 1:6-7

[6] In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, [7] so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Are You Fully Dependent on God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, ‘Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.’”

Luke 22:45-46

 

PONDER THIS

God knows we need sleep, but there’s a time when sleep is inordinate. There are times in the morning when we don’t get out of bed in time to have a quiet time with the Lord. There are times when other pleasures come before the Lord Jesus Christ. And here is Peter asleep while Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Are you asleep at the wrong time? Do the things that break the heart of Jesus break yours? Can you sing sincerely, “The cross before me, the world behind me,” or do you yawn in the face of God? Jesus taught us to pray every morning, not only for daily bread but also for daily protection. Do you put on the armor of God every morning, saying, “Dear God, in the name of Jesus, protect me and keep me?”

Have you been boasting when you should be depending? Have you been sleeping when you should be praying? Do you know why we don’t pray? Many of us have a boastful spirit. If you knew you could not make it without the power of God in your life, you would begin every day in prayer. But if you don’t pray, your prayerlessness is not the worst part of it. Your prayerlessness is the indication of the pride that says, “I’m quite capable to handle this day by myself.” And so, you whisper a little prayer and off you go, but then spiritually fall flat on your face.

When was a time you felt totally dependent on God? What did you do?

How can you remind yourself of your need for God today?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to a fellow Christian about what it means to be dependent on God and ways to keep each other accountable for spending time with Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers