Shackles & Trust

 

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust. It sure is a BIG little word, isn’t it? 

Trusting God is the topic of today’s bit of Porch Talk - Brought straight to you from the contents of a shelf in my home. I’ve been thinking about this a lot as of late.

Trust- reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc. of a person or thing. Confidence. 

You ask me, “How can I have trust in God?” 

My first answer to your question would be, “You have to know His character.” 

To trust him, you have to be confident of His faithfulness, strength, ability and dependability. 

My second reply to your question would be, “You need pain, heartbreak, disappointments, setbacks, sickness, financial and relational woes, etc.”

Are you shocked?! 

Yeah, pretty rough and undesirable stuff, right? You might give me a rather perplexed look as you attempt to digest that tidbit of information. The truth is, you need these experiences, and to have come through them, to learn about God’s character. 

Trust is grown best in dark places. 

Not many things grow and thrive in darkness, but trust does.  And so can we!

Our son worked as an iron worker and used a shackle daily as he worked many stories up in the air. After he passed away, we placed his shackle on a shelf in our home. It ended up being right next to a little wooden sign displaying the word “trust”. 

Our son’s safety was dependent upon whether he had followed proper precautions. If he should lose his footing, because he had his harness connected to a strong point through a shackle, his fall would be minimal. 

A shackle is kind of like trust. 

There has to be something we can hang onto when life trips us up. 

Ever heard the saying, “Tie a not in your rope and hang on for your life”? Just as a shackle helps you hang on if you lose your footing; trusting in God helps you hang in there on the hard days and seasons when hope seems unreachable. 

I’m sure our son didn’t arrive on the job, day one, with total confidence in and understanding of the shackle system. He had to learn the ropes, develop confidence in the system and stay tied off 100% of the time. 

In order to trust God completely, we need to learn about Who He is. His character:

•He is a loving Father. 

•He is patient and long suffering. 

•He is righteous and perfect. 

•He never makes a mistake and cannot lie. 

•He is reliable, dependable, constant. 

•He loves us and wants what’s best for us. 

•He goes out of His way to bring His purpose for our lives to pass. 

These are just some of His many attributes and qualities. We could probably keep naming them for hours if we wanted. Yet, how many of them do we know on a personal level?

Sure, we could just take the word at face value. We could all be given a measure of trust just as we’ve been given a measure of faith. God didn’t plan it that way though. Faith is our belief, but trust is the action we take upon that belief. 

Our son could have all the faith he needed in the safety system at work, but until he took action and properly tied himself off, he wasn’t completely safe. 

It’s not enough to know about the character of God - there must be action. Most often we need first-hand experience in the dark places of life before we are 100% tied off to Him - trusting Him with our whole heart in each and every situation. 

It’s in the darkness that we prove that His character is true, and that we can really grow to trust Him and lean not to our own understanding. It’s in the darkness that our shackle of trust becomes tried and true. 

There’s such a peace, and rest, which comes from knowing God and relying upon Him in every situation we face. Here’s to being 100% tied off with trust in our shackle - God!

Hang in there and grow in the darkness. It might seem unlikely, but with God and our participation, all things are possible. ‘Tis so sweet to trust in Him!