As we walk with the Lord, we go through many things that take away from our ability to have a simple childlike trust. It is one thing to talk about loving the Lord, but it is almost more applicable to talk about trusting Him. You can love Yeshua (Jesus) and be distanced from Him. But if you trust Him, you will give yourself to Him and freely immerse yourself into Him. I would much rather have an absolute, complete trust in Yeshua and say, “Lord, I honestly can take my life—everything that I am, everything that I own—and unconditionally put it into Your hands because I trust You. I trust You with me. I trust You with my family. I trust You with my physical possessions. Everything! I would not hesitate to put everything into Your hands and entrust You with it.” We need this right now.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)1
You are only going to lean on what you trust and right now what you trust is your mind. You trust your evaluations, the way you think, and the way you feel about things. One way to circumvent your mind is to trust the Lord. You will never have the experience of renewing your mind unless you trust Him as you go through all the things He must put you through (Romans 12:2; Hebrews 12:6).
Your first love many times is devoid of trust. It is a starry-eyed thing where you fall in love with someone and go out and have fun. But it does not mean you trust that person with your life. Rather than trying to restore your first love for the Lord, start by restoring your trust in Him until you can trust in the Lord with all your heart. “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight,” or in the King James Version, “and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6). Does this happen because you understand everything He is doing in your life? No. Does it happen because you love Him? No. It happens because you trust Him, because you give yourself to Him.
God wants to relate to you as a son in whom He delights. As one of His sons, you need to melt into Him with an absolute trust. You may have a flinch and think, “I don’t know. I’ve been through a lot of things.” That is okay. Do not work on a lot of things at once; work on one thing. Come before the Lord and say, “Lord, You’ve got to help me here. I’ve got to trust You and You can put that trust in my heart. By Your grace, You can help me reach into a total confidence and trust. I want to have an absolute, complete, unquestioning trust in You.”
If you can tap into this deep trust in God, you will circumvent the problem of your carnal thinking that trips you up and you will no longer lean on your own understanding. Abandon yourself over to Him; trust Him that thoroughly and all the blessings in this life are yours: healing, refreshing, and overflow (Proverbs 3:8-12). It is not a mechanical thing. It literally is born out of a heart that is just filled with a trust in the Lord.
1 All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).