We’ve been exploring what it means to live a life of deep and lasting faith in God.
Let’s face it, you don’t have to have faith. You don’t have to follow God’s plan. You don’t have to listen to his commands.
You can stay in the driver’s seat of your life and go your own way and do your own thing if you want to. It is entirely up to you. Just know that when you do that, you hurt yourself.
God is God. He really does know what’s best for you and me. He has proven himself trustworthy again and again. Why do we think we know better than him?
It is so arrogant and so foolish on so many levels. And the road of rebellion, disobedience and a lack of faith is littered with broken hearts, broken minds, broken bodies, regret, guilt and shame.
God has a better plan for you. You can trust him. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)
Whenever God tells you to do something (whether that is through his word or personal direction), even when it’s inconvenient or irrational from your point of view or illogical or impossible, if you’ll say, “I’m going to do it, Lord, because you say so,” I believe you will be blessed. That is because blessings follow obedience.
Every time God asks us to do something, it’s a test of our faith. We get to decide if we will trust him or if we will go our own way. Will I trust God or my gut? In many ways, that is the test.
Am I going to trust God, myself, something or someone else? Am I going to do what I feel is the right thing to do or am I going to do what God says is the right thing to do? These questions are a test of our faith.
Isn’t it true that most of us would have been better off to have always listened to our parents when we were growing up? They were older and wiser, and they knew what was best for us.
If our parents who are imperfect and who make mistakes somehow know the right thing for us to do or not do, how much more does a perfect and loving heavenly father know what we need?
The wise among us have learned that trusting God is always the right thing to do.