Trusting God (Part 1): When My Dreams Are Left Undone

Photo by Ruben Mishchuk on Unsplash

Several weeks ago, my pastor challenged me to do a Bible word/theme study on what it means to trust God and what trusting God looks like. Since then, I have been encouraged by a friend of mine to share what I’ve been learning via this blog. My plan is to make this the first post of a blog series on the topic. It is my hope that you will be both encouraged and challenged as you follow my journey through Scripture and the lessons I learn along the way.

Have you ever hoped for something so much that it caused you to ache with the longing, only to have those hopes totally dashed? Have you ever had a dream to do something incredible, only to realize that your dream is not realistic and is in fact, impossible? Have you ever desired anything so much that you would be willing to risk everything just to make it a reality, only to find out that what you desired was a fake?
My guess is that most of you could probably answer “yes” to at least one, if not all, these questions. From hopes and prayers that our loved ones will be healed from the diseases that ravage their bodies, and dreams of ministering to orphaned children overseas, to the desire for marriage and a family – we all have hopes, dreams and desires that have been left unfulfilled, undone, destroyed.
We often find ourselves crying out to God and asking Him why He has not answered our prayers or fulfilled our dreams and desires. We wonder if perhaps we just haven’t prayed enough, haven’t loved God enough, haven’t done the right things or haven’t even said the right things.
And God’s response to our cries is simply “trust Me.” We ask, “How, Lord? How do we trust You? Why should we trust You? Can we trust You?” But, God says “just trust Me.”
We hear people say things such as “God is not out for our comfort, He’s out for His glory” or “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him” and it infuriates us because we want to say “Sure, but does that mean that we have to suffer? Does it really mean that our desires cannot be fulfilled?”

Before I tackle the issue at hand, I would like to digress a little and talk about what it means to trust the Lord.
In Proverbs 3:5-6, it says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (ESV). But, what does this mean? Well, let’s take these verses phrase by phrase.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. The word “trust” in the Hebrew is bÿtakh, which is to lean upon for support, to rely on for help or protection, to be secure, to have confidence in, to be bold, to feel safe, to be free of cares or worries. But, this trust in the Lord is not just a small thing, not just a whim. We are to trust the Lord with every fiber of our being – the whole of our mind, emotions and will. Basically, “trusting in the Lord with all your heart” is to be totally confident in the Lord, looking to Him for your protection and help, to leave your worries in His hands, and to step out boldly knowing that ultimately, He is in control. It is a wholehearted abandonment to relying on God.
In other words, we are to trust the Lord with the whole of our being – mind, emotions, will.
Do not lean on your own understanding. The idea being conveyed here is that human wisdom is not reliable. To trust in your own knowledge and “sense” is inferior to trusting in the Lord because human understanding is finite and fallible, whereas God is infinite and cannot fail.
In all your ways acknowledge him. Here, “ways” refers to one’s life, actions, and pursuits. To “acknowledge” God is not only to cultivate an awareness of who He is, but it is a submission to His Lordship. It is about relying on the Lord in every circumstance. Essentially, acknowledging the Lord “in all your ways” is to live a life of trust in and obedience to God.
He will make straight your paths. The idea here is that through wholehearted trust in the Lord, and obedience to His commands, God will make one’s way successful and without obstacles.
Trust in the Lord is about acknowledging and submitting to His Lordship, trusting in Him with wholehearted abandonment, and being obedient to Him in all things.

So what about our unfulfilled desires, hopes and dreams? Psalm 37:3-6 says “Trust in the Lord and do what is right! Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! Then you will take delight in the Lord, and he will answer your prayers. Commit your future to the Lord! Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf” (NET). I have a heard lot of people say “if you delight in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart.” But, they have tended to take it out of context, almost promoting the idea that if you do something good for God, He will do something good for you. But, that is not what this passage is talking about. Note that it says that it is by trusting in the Lord and obeying Him (doing what is right) that we come to delight in the Lord. It is after we come to delight in the Lord that He begins to grant us the desires of our hearts (or answers our prayers), but this happens because when we delight in the Lord HIS desires become OUR desires.

We can trust the Lord to fulfill the desires that He has placed on our hearts. Our job is to walk in obedience and remain faithful to Him – even when our dreams (which may not necessarily be His) are left undone. So, regardless of whether we are hoping and praying for the healing of our loved ones, or dreaming big dreams, or waiting for the Lord to put a special someone in our lives, we can trust Him. Is it scary? Yes, it is. It’s frightening to put our hopes, fears, dreams and desires in the Lord’s hands – to let go of being in control of our own lives. But, who better to trust than God? After all, He is our Creator, Sustainer, Life-Giver, and Savior! And even if our dreams are left undone, He is still good and He is still faithful.


(Trusting God: Part 2)



Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved. 

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