Trust in the Lord With All Your Heart

Last week, we looked at the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus had been trying to get away to pray and to grieve the death of John the Baptist, but the crowd found Him. In His compassion, He ministered to them and fed them. With only a few loaves and fish, He demonstrated that He is able to provide beyond what we can see.

Afterward, Jesus sent the crowd away. He told His disciples, “Get in the boat and go ahead. I’ll catch up with you.” Perhaps He was thinking, “Now I can finally have some time alone.” So He went up on the mountain to pray.

Meanwhile, the disciples were out on the sea—what they called a sea, though it was more like a large lake. A storm came up, and the boat was being battered by the waves. They were frightened.

Then Jesus came to them. Since He is God and has authority over all creation, He walked across the water. When the disciples saw Him coming, they were terrified. “Is this a ghost?” they asked.

Jesus called out to them, “It is I.”

Peter said, “Lord, if it is really You, command me to come to You on the water.”

Jesus answered, “Come.”

What was Peter doing when he first stepped out of the boat? He was having faith. He was trusting Jesus’ word: “Come to Me.”

Peter got out of the boat. Can you imagine those first few steps? He must have thought, “This is actually happening.” His trust was in Christ.

But then his attention shifted. Satan began working in his mind: “This is impossible. Water is not solid. You cannot stand on water.” Humanly speaking, that was true. Peter could not do it in his own strength.

As Peter began to focus on himself instead of Jesus, he thought, “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.” He began to sink. He panicked, believing he was about to drown.

But the One in whom Peter should have placed his trust reached out, took him by the hand, lifted him up, and walked him back to the boat.

Many times in life, we know we need to trust God, but Satan whispers, “You can’t do this.” The question is: Is our trust really in God if it depends on whether we believe we can handle it on our own?

We must trust God precisely because there are many things in life we cannot do by ourselves. That is what it means to trust Him.

The disciples did not yet have the New Testament as we do, but they knew the Old Testament. They heard it taught in the synagogue. I am sure Proverbs 3 was familiar to them, just as it is familiar to many of us.

Proverbs 3:5 says:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

Peter was leaning on his own understanding of how the world works. He was no longer focused on the One who had called him out of the boat—the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who holds all things together.

Jesus had said, “Come.” Peter’s trust shifted from Jesus back to himself. Then he began to think, “It is physically impossible for me to be doing this,” and he started to sink.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding.

Let us look at another example of trust: Elijah in 1 Kings 19.

We talked about Elijah last week. God had provided for him at the brook, where ravens brought him food. Then God led him to a widow, and God provided for both of them when they trusted Him.

Later, Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal. This was not a foreign nation turning from God; this was Israel, God’s chosen people. They had experienced God’s faithfulness, yet they had turned their worship toward Baal.

God directed Elijah to challenge the prophets of Baal. Two altars were prepared, each with wood laid upon it. The prophets of Baal were told to call upon their god to send fire and light their altar.

They called and called, but nothing happened—because Baal was not God. Baal was an idol, a creation of human imagination.

Then it was Elijah’s turn. Before he prayed, Elijah told the people to pour water over the altar and the wood. He wanted everyone to see that this was not something he could accomplish by human effort. The wood was completely soaked.

Then Elijah called upon the God of heaven, and God sent fire from heaven. The fire consumed the offering and the wood. Afterward, Elijah gathered the false prophets of Baal and put an end to their influence among the people.

God had protected Elijah and carried him through every part of that experience.

But then King Ahab told Jezebel what Elijah had done. In 1 Kings 19:1–2, Jezebel sent a message to Elijah:

“So may the gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”

Elijah became afraid. He rose and ran for his life. He went to Beersheba in Judah, left his servant there, and then traveled a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree.

Think about what had happened. God had protected Elijah when he stood alone against the prophets of Baal. Yet now he was afraid because one angry woman had threatened him.

Where was his trust?

It is as though God were saying, “Did you not trust Me at the brook? Did you not trust Me when I sent you to the widow? Did you not trust Me at the altar? Did you not trust Me when I gave you victory over the prophets of Baal? Why do you not trust Me now?”

Elijah sat down under the broom tree and asked that he might die. He said:

“It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

He had moved from trusting God to feeling sorry for himself. He had given up hope and was no longer resting in God’s faithfulness.

How do we get to that place?

Is it possible that, in our own lives, things become difficult and we begin trusting only in ourselves? We forget that God Almighty is the Provider, the Maker of heaven and earth, the all-powerful One who loved us enough to give Jesus Christ so that we might live.

Are there days when we set aside our trust in God and His promises because we think, “I am in trouble. I cannot do this myself”?

Remember: What has God done for you that you could not do for yourself?

Everything.

Most of all, consider salvation. What you could never do to gain eternal life, God has done for you through Christ.

Trust God. If He loved you enough to give His Son for you, will He not also care for you in the troubles of everyday life? Trust Him.

Elijah lay down under the broom tree, overwhelmed and discouraged. Yet God still cared for him.

First Kings 19:5–7 says that an angel touched him and said, “Arise and eat.” Elijah looked and found bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate, drank, and lay down again.

The angel came a second time and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” Elijah ate and drank, and in the strength of that food he traveled forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

God provided for him again. He fed him, gave him water, and sent him on.

At Horeb, Elijah went into a cave. In verse 9, the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah answered:

“I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

But Elijah’s memory was not entirely accurate. He was speaking like a man consumed with fear and self-pity. He believed he was alone and that everything depended on him.

The Lord told him, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” A great and powerful wind tore through the mountains and broke the rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

Then came the sound of a low whisper.

When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and stood at the entrance of the cave. Again, the voice asked, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah found God not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in the gentle whisper of God’s word.

How powerful is God’s word? By His word, all that we know came into existence. The quiet, still voice of God carries almighty power.

God was asking Elijah, “Why are you hiding in this cave after all that I have shown you? Why are you afraid of this one person? Why do you believe you are alone?”

Elijah had turned the story around. Jezebel should have been the one afraid, after God had given Elijah victory over the prophets of Baal. But Elijah was hiding, saying, “I have no hope left. No one cares. I do not have enough to make it.”

Where are the places in our lives where we have failed to trust the Lord? Where have we ignored His faithfulness through the years and said, “Because I cannot do it, it will not happen”?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding.

Elijah repeated his complaint to God in verse 14. But then God gave him direction. The Lord told him to return and anoint Hazael as king over Syria, Jehu as king over Israel, and Elisha as the prophet who would succeed him.

Then, in verse 18, God said:

“Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Elijah thought he was the only one left. He thought there was no hope. But God said, “I have preserved seven thousand. You are not alone. I have already been at work.”

That is a question for us as well. God says, “I have done My work. I have gone before you. Trust Me.”

This matters deeply for a faithful remnant church. Sometimes we see the larger culture or even the larger church moving away from God’s truth, and we begin to worry. We may say, “We are too small. There are not enough of us. We do not have the resources. There is no hope.”

But that is not true. The remnant must continue trusting the God who can do all things.

How many times has a congregation felt that it was near the end? People may say, “Everyone is getting older. Giving is down. We are in a difficult place.” Yet the Lord provides. He brings new people, new families, new generosity, and new opportunities for ministry.

Where does it all come from? It comes from God.

When we trust God and place our faith in Him, He does miraculous things among us. He takes care of His people. He always has, and He always will. If we trust Him, believe Him, and stand firm in His ways, He will bless and sustain us.

Psalm 56 begins:

“Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me. My enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.”

That is a difficult situation. What would it be like to feel attacked at every turn?

Yet the psalmist says:

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”

What can another person ultimately do to you? Place your trust in God.

Psalm 62 says:

“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.”

And later:

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”

God is a refuge for us all.

God is faithful. He is faithful to His people. He will not let you down. He will provide. He will protect. He will be there for you.

Will you trust Him? Or will you place your trust in yourself or in others?

Where is your trust today?

Father, I am thankful that we are not alone. There are times when we may feel alone, but we are not.

Father, we are never beyond Your care. What can anyone ultimately do to us? They may harm the body, but they cannot take the soul that is eternally secure with You.

We worry about so many things. So often, we trust only in ourselves, our abilities, or another person’s abilities to make things happen and carry us through. Yet our full trust needs to be in You.

You can do all things. You can do the things we cannot do, and You have proven Your faithfulness over and over again.

Father, if there is anyone here today struggling through a difficult place in life—someone who has been trusting in themselves and feels they have reached the end of the rope—I pray that Your Holy Spirit will lead them to trust in You.

May they find Your goodness and faithfulness. May they be restored in hope and joy.

For You alone are faithful and able, and we give You praise and thanks. Lead us, Lord, to trust You in all things.

In Jesus’ name, amen.