Jeremiah 17:7 - Trusting, or Provisionally Trusting

Jeremiah 17:7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.”

A little while ago I was driving and following my Google map directions. I had a destination in mind and I wanted to get there. I took the twisty, swervy, winding back roads like the directions said. I went under bridges and over bridges, around corners while going up hill or down hill, all the time trusting my directions to get me to where I needed to be. Unfortunately my directions were off. It wasn't far, but my directions had me stopping a mile early and that wasn't where I was supposed to be! Later, I needed to get home, so I plugged my address into the GPS on my phone. I followed the directions and took the twisty, swervy, winding back country roads. I went under bridges and over bridges, and even around corners where I seemed to be meeting myself again! I went up hills and down hills, turning corners and watching the road signs.  This time, my trip back was different, I went home a different route than I had come. I found myself on single lane roads winding about a lake at night! Oh! It would have been gorgeous if I could have only seen the view!  After a couple hours of driving I found myself pulling into my parking spot. I was home, even if it was later than I had planned.

To get home while in an unfamiliar place, I had to rely on the directions. I had to trust them to get me to my destination. While it may be that it is not so bad that my directions were off by about mile, I still had trusted them to get me to – and not near – my destination.  Trust is a form of faith and for most of us it seems to be a four letter word a lot of the time. We find ourselves provisionally trusting. We provisionally trust the map directions, because we know that sometimes maps are wrong. We provisionally trust car salesmen to show us the car lot, but we know that they are going to try and sell us something we don't need. We provisionally trust the grocery store as well since they always seem to be changing things up so what we want may or may not be there. We even provisionally trust our politicians. We trust them to lie to us about their campaigns yet we also expect them to follow through on their promises; we trust them to make our laws but we would not really want them for neighbors. 

For some reason, we take that same provisional trust and put it towards God. We say that we trust Him, when really we are provisionally trusting Him. As long as things are going our way then we can easily say that we trust Him, but when things get bad, when trouble comes its so very easy for us to start blaming Him. That trust doesn't carry over and trust that doesn't carry over for all situations really isn't trust. That thing about tithing in our Bible? Those teachings on money? All that is is God trying to give us exercises in Trust. He does not need our money! He wants us to learn to Trust, and to practice it in a way that challenges us!

We need to Trust Him, not provisionally trust either. Trust with a capital “T”. Trust is faith that has been proven! We have the proof, we have the evidence, and that should give us the encouragement to trust Him more. He asks for much, but doesn't He also deliver much? It is each person's decision on how and where to trust God. Lets trust Him more with everything. He's already proven He is capable, its now up to us to show our trust and to stand by it. Are you ready?

May I be one who trusts You, Lord,
Dwelling each day upon Your Word.
May I be like a tree by a stream,
Bearing much fruit and always green.
May I drink from Your Word each day,
That I might stand firm, come what may.
May I e’er prosper in Your way,
And blest e’er be.
                                     Susan H. Peterson, 1999.