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So many times in our culture we hear phrases repeated that sound good but are based loosely on Scripture. They almost sound like Scripture but they are not. This phrase is one of those.

So what Scriptures do we look to for the truth?

I turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

Verses 8-10 (ESV) tell us this:

…For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him, we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

In this passage, the apostle Paul was writing to a church that had been working on their sanctification – that just means they are trying to walk with Christ but sometimes their sins had to be pointed out. That’s me for sure! Sometimes I need my sins pointed out by Scripture. Sometimes, often, I want to rely on myself. If I can just pick myself up, then all will be fine. Do you ever think that?

But illness, widowhood, job loss, those things prove to us that we CAN’T rely on ourselves!

We need to know God is in control.

So how do we “land” there when our emotions tell us no one is in control? When the world is spinning off its axis? When nothing we do seems to matter anyway?

That’s when I must stop the swirling emotions and ask the hard question: Is that really true? From everything I have read in the Bible before this latest catastrophe happened, is that true?

There was a time in my desperation that I finally stopped and said to myself, “Either God is Who He says He is or He isn’t. He can’t be both or neither.” It was then that I grabbed my Bible and made a declaration of faith and trust – I was going to follow Him as God and trust His control of my life. I was relying on my own understanding of life, not His. Two passages from my childhood came back to my mind:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)

Following and trusting God is hopefully an upward goal, even though there are times I fall back into relying on myself. I’d like to think I learned the lesson once and for all but it seems I am pretty stubborn! I have to learn it over and over.

How has your trust journey been? Is it an area you struggle with or are you relying heavily on God daily? I think I struggled with it because I ultimately wanted a different “story”. Does anyone else struggle with that? I want the story of healing! And I promised God I would give Him all the glory! But God, in His mercy and grace, chose a different story for me. He sees the entirety of my life and uses my “story” to point to Him in ways healing couldn’t have. Is that a hard thing for you to swallow? It is for me. I guess I keep trying to grab the “pen” to rewrite my “story”. We aren’t just robots walking around; we are living, breathing creations of the King, ambassadors for His Kingdom!

Father God, thank You for giving me opportunities to point to You in my story. Give me eyes to see Your hand every day, guiding me. When I want to rely on my own understanding, help me turn it around to relying on Your understanding. Amen