Trust

Let's begin with something we all enjoy: story time. Last week, I picked up my wife after her weekly student ministry lifegroup. She walked out the front door of our friend's house loaded down with baby stuff. You see, we are expecting our first child this December (woohoo!), and since our friends have two little girls who are finally outgrowing their baby things, they have graciously offered us pick-of-the-litter when it comes to baby supplies. I was overwhelmed. I mean, this kid isn't due for another seven-and-a-half months. What do we need all this stuff for? After talking things out, I learned that they were ready to get as much of that stuff out of their house as possible. We were doing them a big favor by taking these things off their hands. That made it easier for me to swallow. Then my wife said something very interesting. She said it helps during those times when the devil tries to make us worry about not having enough to support our child, to go in and look at all this stuff we already have. We've only known we were having a baby for three weeks, and we have practically everything covered - except a car. A bigger car would be great. Big, nice, shiny new car... *wink* Anyway. My wife said that though our friends had promised it, having some of these supplies under the bed and in the closets helps reassure her of all that the Lord is doing to provide for us. I immediately replied by saying, "Oh, I don't have to see it, I trust David and Heather." And it hit me immediately...

The Lord has been dealing with this in my life the past week. I didn't have to see the things we were promised, because I trusted our friends weren't lying to us about having baby supplies, or that they would let us have them when our child came along. And yet, I do have to see things the Lord has promised me in order to have confidence in His promises to supply everything I need. I felt it in my spirit the moment those words left my lips, "Why don't you think that way about Me?!" That is the very definition of faith - believing without seeing. Hebrews 11:1 lays it out for us clearly: "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]" (AMP). It is believing that you possess what the Lord has promised you, even before you see the concrete evidence.

I believe that our friends have the supplies they promised us, because I have seen their little girls. I believe them because I know them; I know their character; I know their hearts. I trust them. The same should be true of all of us where the Lord is concerned. We should know His heart; know His character; trust Him. Jesus paid an awesome price so that He could provide for us His Blessing. Paul explains part of what Jesus has done for us in 2Corinthians, when he says, "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us" (2Corinthians 1:20, NKJV). The Apostle John tells us that when we pray in accordance to the Word of God, He listens to us, "And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him" (1John 5:15, AMP). Because of Jesus, I am covered. My baby is taken care of. I do not have to see the back room of Heaven to know that the supplies for my family are already there, and that He will see to it that I get all that I need (see Philippians 4:19). When I told my aunt I was having a baby and was concerned about providing for him/her/them, she squashed that worry with a simple sentence: "God's not going to give you a baby and then not provide for you to take care of 'em." Problem solved.