One of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do in life has been to stop doing and learn to trust. As the eldest of three boys in my family, I was always the protector, the one who found a solution for when we got into mischief and the one to get things done. Let’s just say, I grew up independent, self-sufficient and stubborn to my ways of doing things –It was either my way or the highway.
…In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. Isaiah 30.15 [ESV]
I think many of us have heard the saying, “Trust God.” As simple as it sounds, trusting in God was the most difficult thing for me. Let me tell you something, trusting God is hard, especially when life and world experiences have molded you to trust nobody but yourself. We all reach a point where we learn to roll up our sleeves and just do things ourselves because we are impatient and it needed to get done yesterday. Other times, by doing things on our own, we’ve brought on stress and our battles become worst than what they were.
Trust issues
Most of the habits and character we adopt in life, we tend to deflect towards God. Let me rephrase that. Most of the bad habits and bad character we adopt, we unwillingly deflect towards God. What do I mean by this? Growing up, I had trust issues due to bad experiences with people and friends I trusted, either abandoning or breaking friendship bonds with me. I could say, these people left a bad impression of what trust should look like.
Maybe it wasn’t their fault. Maybe people tend to reflect the same character and habits that life has influenced them to adopt. This is when I came to the realization that although we are molded by the experiences and influences of this world, we can be reset to adopt new habits, the more we spend quality time with Jesus.
We become who we spend our time with. –Ps. Carlos Bonilla
I encourage you to exercise trust again with your family, friends and leaders. I strongly believe in genuine God-seeking people that want to be more like Him and are trustworthy. Of course, doing so prudently.
The enemy is an imposter, and he will continue defaming God’s trust with your day-to-day experiences.
Patience
Here’s something I’ve learned from Pastor Jonathan Bonilla: Have you ever wondered why patients are called patients? When people are asked to wait in hospitals or at the clinic for the next available doctor, they enter a time-frame of waiting and of embracing patience (a time of suffering).
Suffering… God allows moments like these in our life to reflect on things, to wait things out until it’s the right time (His time). God doesn’t want you dead, but good comes out in times of suffering. In suffering we draw closer to God. Friends, we’ve become so self-sufficient that Jesus no longer plays a roll in our life. When was the last time you needed Him in your problems? When was the last time you prayed for the right words to say to the person who have harmed you? When was the last time you cried out “Jesus take me out of this hole”?
The time of suffering is God’s way of saying, “Come back to Me.” I want to be your provider, your refuge, your God. How can Jesus be the saviour of your world if you’re already the saviour of it?
Blind sabotage
Have you ever encountered a moment in your life where you’ve said to yourself, “I really messed things up”? Let me be honest with you by saying that 99% of the times I’ve managed to sink myself deeper or stress myself even more by meddling. Things would have just been fine if I allowed God to deal with things the first time.
I feel that many of us tend to blame God for the aftermath caused by our own hands. I think it’s our nature to cause things into ruin when we don’t have the right wisdom from God. But because we’ve stopped “Letting God”, we don’t have the appropriate words to say, or the uplifting words to give us patience and strength to holdout before turning things sour.
I know these are not our direct intentions, but sadly we are sabotaging God’s real work in us and through us. He wants to fix the things that have been broken. He wants to see you succeed. He wants you out of pits you’ve found yourself in. He even wants to be part of your everyday plans and visions. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying God cannot use you, He wants to use you every step of the way but we need to remove all pride, all self-sufficiency and all impatience from our life.
How much unhappiness and stress have you brought upon yourself because you thought it was in your strength or because you thought it was your God-given mission to fix something you were not meant to fix? If today you were planning on doing something about it, I encourage you to pray and to do one thing only. Stop doing and trust God. Let Go, let God.
