Proverbs 3:5-7 “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. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.”
Recently, while reading Roy Laurin’s book, “Meet Yourself In The Bible”; I was deeply challenged by this statement, “To be tempted to distrust God is the very height of all temptation.” I have not been able to get away from that statement; herein lays one of the biggest obstacles in my life. In considering this truth, I begin to realize that I wasn’t alone in this temptation; it is one of the underlying problems in the lives of most individuals encapsulated in the Word of God.
When Satan came to Eve in the garden, the thing he wanted to accomplish in her life was to get her to distrust God’s lordship; “For God doth know . . . your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5). As with Eve, Satan wants man to challenge Gods’ authority and right to rule. You can be your own god, worshipping yourself! His argument was that God was holding out on them and by making the choice to rebel, they could become just like God.
When Satan gained permission from God to attack Job, his objective was to get Job to distrust God’s love; “But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face” (Job 1:11). As the servants entered the tent with one continual report of disaster and death; a satanic voice whispered in Job’s ear, “If God really loved you this wouldn’t be happening!” Setting on the ash heap scrapping the boils on his body; Satan, speaking through the lips of his wife said it is evident that God doesn’t love you; if He were truly a God of love how could He allow this to happen with all that you have done for Him.
After multiple dreams Joseph was encouraged to believe that God had great things planed for him. But evil experiences would encourage Joseph to distrust God’s leading, “Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt” (Genesis 37:28). How could one believe that a pit and prison are the means of obtaining a throne.
Are not the experiences of Eve, Job, and Joseph similar to ours? How many times a day are we encouraged to distrust God’s lordship, love, and leading in our lives. Rather than looking to Christ, we look at the circumstances and say within ourselves there is no way that anything good can come out of this. When our heart become preoccupied with such thoughts, may we remember His Word; “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
When the enemy of our soul encourages us to distrust our God, may we take comfort in the words of Abraham; “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).When you can’t trust self, you can always trust the Saviour!