This just in from our global online tribe: I have a quiet time with God every day, but I am lost. I pray every day, but I am lost. I go to church every Sunday, but I am lost. What am I doing wrong? HELP!
NOT LISTENING to what God says is surely missing in this scenario that has her feeling empty even though she is spending time with the Lord every day.
But it does NOT, by itself, fully explain the problem. Coming up SPIRITUALLY EMPTY after spending time with God, reading the Bible, praying, and worshiping are only SYMPTOMS of a deeper, more pervasive force at work.
What’s missing is an abiding and sturdy TRUST in the God of Heaven and earth.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Without this kind of TRUST—and LISTENING to God carefully—we are left to wander about in fearful anxiousness, even if we spend time with God every day through our spiritual habits like a quiet time and prayer and reading his Word.
This is one of the most important forks in our faith walk. It’s right up there with BELIEVING with a CAPITAL B. This is TRUSTING with a CAPITAL T–trusting God for EVERYTHING, always, no matter the circumstances and our fear.
Without this kind of trust, our spiritual discipline to maintain the daily habits of a disciple can quickly turn into transactional tactics. They may keep us busy, but they cannot make up for being disconnected from God because we are not trusting him.
If we’re disconnected from the intimacy with Christ that can only come through our TRUST, we will be spiritually bloated, lazy, and wracked with fear.
The sooner we get on the TRUST TRAIL the better because it takes a lifetime to build the scar tissue we need and can only acquire through the challenges of life.
Not trusting God may be tolerable for awhile, but it will eventually have us despairing over and through the pain of anxiousness and worry and fear and hopelessness.
I ask God to help me see that without placing my TRUST in him, it will be impossible to fully activate my faith and live out my purpose for him and his Kingdom. I want to trust him a little more every day for my entire life.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
How do you score on God’s 1-5 TRUST METER? One…almost no trust? Five…complete trust? Somewhere in between? What will you do to improve your score?
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
