Trusting God

by Jerry Bridges

Our duty is found in the revealed will of God in the Scriptures. Our trust must be in the sovereign will of God, as He works in the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives for our good and His glory.

“Trust . . . [uses] such means as God prescribes for the bringing about his appointed end. . . . God’s means are to be used, as well as God’s blessing to be expected.”[3]

So it is that prayers often seem to lie unanswered. For we are being handled by a wisdom which is perfect, a wisdom which can achieve what it [intends] by taking hold of things and people which are meant for evil and making them work together for good.”[4] God’s infinite wisdom then is displayed in bringing good out of evil, beauty out of ashes. It is displayed in turning all the forces of evil that rage against His children into good for them. But the good that He brings about is often different from the good we envision. HOLINESS OUT OF ADVERSITY Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” is an oft-quoted verse. But we often fail to note that the following verse helps us understand what the “good” of verse 28 is. Verse 29 begins with the word for, indicating that it is a continuation and amplification of the thought of verse 28. It says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” The good that God works for in our lives is conformity to the likeness of His Son. It is not necessarily comfort or happiness but conformity to Christ in ever-increasing measure in this life and in its fullness in eternity.

As Philip Hughes said, “That he cares not is just as unthinkable as that he can not.”[1]

As Matthew Henry observed when commenting on Zephaniah 3:17, “The great God not only loves his saints, but he loves to love them.” God takes great delight in loving us because we are His very own.

In Psalm 103:11, David speaks of God’s fatherly love in this way: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.” In the last chapter, we saw that God’s ways are higher than our ways, as the heavens are higher than the earth. Here we see that God’s love for His own is as high as the heavens are above the earth. Just as God’s wisdom, like the height of the heavens, cannot be measured, so God’s love for us cannot be measured. It is not only perfect in its effect, it is infinite in its extent. No calamity that may come upon us, however great it may be, can carry us beyond the pale of God’s fatherly love for us.

We must see our circumstances through God’s love instead of, as we are prone to do, seeing God’s love through our circumstances.

We mistakenly look for tokens of God’s love in happiness. We should instead look for them in His faithful and persistent work to conform us to Christ. As

But God cannot be frustrated. He will carry on to completion that which He has begun. As Bonar also wrote, “God’s treatment must succeed. It cannot miscarry or be frustrated even in its most arduous efforts, even in reference to its minutest objects. It is the mighty power of God that is at work within us and upon us, and this is our consolation. . . . All is love, all is wisdom, and all is faithfulness, yet all is also power.”[2] That God cannot fail in His purpose for adversity in our lives, that He will accomplish that which He intends, is a great encouragement to me.

PRUNING

Definitely worth studying and taking to heart!

In the spiritual realm, God must prune us. Because even as believers we still have a sinful nature, we tend to pour our spiritual energies into that which is not true fruit. We tend to seek position, success, and reputation even in the body of Christ. We tend to depend upon natural talents and human wisdom. And then we are easily distracted and pulled by the things of the world—its pleasures and possessions. God uses adversity to loosen our grip on those things that are not true fruit. A severe illness or the death of someone dear to us, the loss of material substance or the tarnishing of our reputation, the turning aside of friends or the dashing of our cherished dreams on the rocks of failure, cause us to think about what is really important in life. Position or possessions or even reputation no longer seem so important. We begin to relinquish our desires and expectations—even good ones—to the sovereign will of God. We come more and more to depend on God and to desire only that which will count for eternity. God is pruning us so that we will be more fruitful.

Turning to Psalm 42:11 that day, she said, “Lord, I choose not to be downcast, I choose not to be disturbed, I choose to put my hope in You.” She told me later, as she recounted this to me, that her feelings did not change immediately, but after a while they did. Her heart was calmed as she deliberately chose to trust God.

David, in his times of distress, also chose to trust God.

I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. To set the Lord before me is to recognize His presence and His constant help, but this is something we must choose to do. God is always with us. He has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). There is no question of His presence with us. But we must recognize His presence; we must set Him always before us. We must choose whether or not we will believe His promises of constant protection and care. Margaret Clarkson, in speaking of how we may arrive at a place of acceptance of adversity in our lives, said, “Always it is initiated by an act of will on our part; we set ourselves to believe in the overruling goodness, providence, and sovereignty of God and refuse to turn aside no matter what may come, no matter how we feel.”[1]