Bottom line…you can’t trust people. They’ll say one thing, but do the opposite. They’ll promise things they can never deliver on. They’ll declare their love and then turn around and break your heart. Mankind is just that…humans with lots of flaws that disappoint each other daily. And that’s difficult when we demand perfection from those who can’t achieve it….for it leads only to disillusionment. And we need to be careful that disillusionment doesn’t cause us to become cynical, critical, and bitter. Bottom line…you can’t trust people – but you can trust God. You can fully trust God with your life, your future, your everything.
Tag: trust in the lord
II Chronicles 20:15 “He said: ‘Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.’ “
In so many struggles we can find ourselves totally defenseless…outmanned and outmaneuvered. And as the fighting escalates, we are worn down and demoralized by the toll it takes on us…mentally, physically, and spiritually. For when you are ill-equipped for battle…you have no chance. Why then do we think we have to do all the fighting, when God tells us He’s got our back? Spiritual warfare is His specialty, not ours. All He asks of us is to stand and watch Him work. For in Psalm 91:7-8 says, “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes…”
John 15:12 ” My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
Jesus loves us with an unconditional love…it has no bounds…no restrictions. But can we love each other in the same way? Maybe it can be in what we don’t do that can show the love of Christ more effectively to those around us. Instead of yelling in anger and frustration at the kids…we don’t. Instead of becoming upset and disappointed with a co-worker…we don’t. Instead of allowing discouragement and despair to break apart our marriage…we don’t. For sometimes the greatest way to demonstrate God’s love to others… is in what we don’t do.
Matthew 5:44 ” But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”
Some later manuscripts show this verse as saying, “Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.” Either translation is a tall order to fill. For we are a people who retaliate at the slightest notion that we’ve been wronged. Taking revenge and repaying evil with evil is touted and even celebrated in today’s social media. But this verse tells us to do the very opposite. And our example should be Jesus, who in I Peter 2:23 demonstrates, “When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate, when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.” Taking the high road in the face of cruelty may be a clenched fist, gritted teeth type of grace under pressure, but allowing God to fight your battle is worth it in the end.
John 2:11 ” This, the first of His miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His Disciples put their faith in Him.”
It was done mostly in obscurity…off in the background at a wedding in progress. Only a few people were even aware that the wine was gone. They included a few servants and the disciples of Jesus that witnessed this miracle of changing something as basic as water into something extraordinary as fine wine. Now the wedding party did benefit and were wonderfully blessed by His first miracle…but it was the people who actually saw it with their own eyes that were powerful and eternally changed by it.
Luke 15:17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!’ “
This verse comes from the Parable of the prodigal son…a young man, who after squandering his portion of his inheritance, found himself starving to death in the middle of a pigsty. It was in those deplorable conditions, that he finally came to himself…recovering his right mind, and realizing just how far he had wandered away. Repentance is a change of mind…leading to a change of heart…which leads to a change of our actions. Unfortunately for many of us, Godly sorrow is only attained when we find ourselves in the middle of the pigsties of life.
Job 14:1-2 “Man born of woman is of a few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.”
From the moment we draw our initial breath, to the last… our lives are but a brief time here on earth. Our bodies, just temporary vessels, that continue to fade and wither more with each passing year. Yes, our mortal life is like a fleeting shadow…passing and momentary. But our spirit within is enduring…everlasting and eternal.
Revelation 20:10 ” And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
The ending has already been written…Satan’s doom is inevitable, and he knows it. The Accuser and Slanderer of God is well aware of how his story will end…and it’s not pretty. Satan knows that his time is short and so he’s bound and determined to take as many deceived souls with him into that abyss. Pray then, that people’s eyes and ears will be open to the Truth…the Truth of the living God.
Deuteronomy 2:1-3 ” Then we turned back and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir. Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.’ “
Moses and the Hebrew children were wandering in the desert…for a long time it says they journeyed, when finally the Lord spoke to Moses…”It’s long enough.” We will all go through seasons in our lives when we walk aimlessly about, asking the Lord, “Am I going in the right direction?” We will all spend time, seemingly without clear direction, waiting for the Lord to say,” It’s long enough.” But it’s during those hard journeys that lessons will be learned…about God and ourselves. Sometimes we need discipline, or humility…sometimes it’s to get our attention or force us to look at our rebellious nature. When you wander around the same hill, the scenery stays the same…use the time to instead change yourself.
Luke 18:14 “…For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
This comes from the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector that Jesus taught to a group of self-righteous, haughty people. It says in verse 10 that both men went up to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee pushed his way up to the front of the crowd in order to be seen and heard by everyone, and once there, proceeded to pray loudly and arrogantly…basically telling God how lucky He was to have him. On the other hand, the Tax Collector stood way back in the courtyard, daring not to even look up to heaven, but rather beating his breast and whispering, “God have mercy on me.” In Jeremiah 31:19 it says, “After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understanding, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.” The road from self-deception to self-awareness requires acknowledgement…admitting I’m just as sinful as those around me and not one bit more righteous.
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