If someone told you to ‘trust in God,’ what does that mean to you? Is it possible to trust God in one area of your life, but not another? Is it possible to trust God, when subconsciously you have not needed a reason to – You’ve always had food, shelter, work, community, transportation, connections etc. – and have not experienced a threat of losing anything or have lost anything that you have in your life.
The scripture in Exodus 16: 4, I think, helps us to grasp what it means to trust God. At the beginning of chapter 16, it is described that the Israelite community was in the dessert and hungry, then Moses receives the plan that the Lord will “rain down bread from heaven” (Exodus 16:4), however, they had to trust God that he will provide for them every day because they were only to gather enough for the day. This provision required ultimate trust that more bread will return the next day. This would be hard to do because the instinct would be to gather as much as possible to stretch for as long as possible. To obey this instruction would require discipline and a mind fixed on God, not on scarcity, and their reality that they are in dessert with no tangible and quickly available resources to meet their basic needs. They needed to depend on God, completely.
I think it is possible that Exodus 16: 4 offers 3 possible ways to understand what it means to trust in God:
- Complete dependence on God’s daily provision not on human effort
- What this might look like: Removing alternative plans from your mind should something not work out (no plan B’s). Consistently look up to God for direction and provision, though you cannot see what is ahead (not trying to make things happen for yourself)
- Obey God’s instruction
- What this might look like: Following in your heart what you believe is right (not comprising your integrity and Christian values to make things happen and/or to solve a problem)
- Extinguish the need to control the outcome for the next day
- What this might look like: Focus on each day at a time (pray to God, daily, for strength, provision, wisdom, guidance). When what once made you feel secure and confident about your future is taken away or threatened, depend on God to give you what you need each day.
If you are in a season that requires the complete dependence on God (or even if you’re not in such a season), continue to pray for your needs, reflect on what it means to trust in God for you, and consider if any of the 3 possible ideas can support you to orient your mind on depending on God.
I know complete trust in God can be hard to do, especially when life is uncertain and your circumstances are hard to bear – I am talking from experience – and I know that peace and daily provision in the storm is possible with God – I am also talking from experience.
God Bless.