Proverbs 3:5 tells us that we should trust in God with all our hearts. We should not rely on our own limited human understanding. God’s ways and thoughts are far greater than ours (Isaiah 55:9). God knows the end from the beginning, so when He promises to do something or is leading us to do something we don’t feel capable of doing, we can trust that it will be accomplished (Isaiah 46:10-11). When we feel God leading us, our response should be to trust and obey.
In the old hymn, Trust and Obey, the final verse ends with these words:
Good words to live by! When we trust in God and submit to His will, He promises to direct us in the way that we should go (Proverbs 3:6). When we trust and obey, God’s plan for us will be accomplished, and we can be sure that His plans for us are always to help or prosper us and never to harm us (Jeremiah 29:11). In the Old Testament, chapter 6 of Joshua provides a great example of the reward that comes from trusting in God and doing what He says.
God commanded Joshua to have the army of the Israelites march around the walled city of Jericho for six days. He told Joshua that, on the seventh day, they should march around Jericho seven times. At that point, the priests were to sound the trumpets and the men were to shout. God promised Joshua that, if they did this, the walls of Jericho would fall down. Now, these walls were probably 30 feet high and 20 feet thick, so it would not be hard to imagine Joshua questioning God about His plan. But, Joshua trusted God with all his heart. He obeyed God and instructed the army to do exactly as God had said. Because of Joshua’s trust and willingness to obey, those walls fell flat and the Israelites took the city of Jericho (Joshua 6:1-20).
When we don’t place our trust in God and submit to His will, we may never experience the rewards and the promises He has planned for us. This is exactly what happened when Moses was leading the Israelites to the land God had promised to give them. Before they reached the Promised Land, God told Moses to send a group of men to explore the land (Numbers 13:1-3). All but two of the men came back with reports that there was no way they could take this land, as it was inhabited by men of such great size that they made the Israelites look like grasshoppers (Numbers 13:26-33). The people listened to the words of men rather than trusting in God and they refused to take the land as God had commanded (Deuteronomy 9:23-24). As a result, they wandered in the wilderness for the next forty years.
When God is leading us, or we are sensing that God’s will is for us to do something that we don’t feel fully equipped to do, we need to be like Joshua. We need to trust God and obey Him. When we do, His plan for our lives will be accomplished.
A Worshiper's Journal 