“Thus says the Lord:
Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart departs from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green, and it shall not be anxious in the year of draught, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”
Commentary notes that those who “confidence and trust center around human capabilities and resources – their own or others—will find only disappointment, failure, spiritual poverty and ultimate loss. But those who trust completely in the Lord will be blessed and rewarded in the end with eternal benefits. The faithful do not have to worry or be afraid in any situation because the ‘roots’ of their life go deep into God.” [1]
Do we really trust the Lord? What about when difficulty happens?
Sometimes we can go along in Christianity and think we are putting all our trust in the Lord but we are not. We trust in our job, in our resources, in our capabilities and even in others around us. We give lip service to our relationship with God but it is more like a sentimental rag doll we carry with us. Then when hardship happens in our life, we find it difficult to navigate. We lose all our joy.
A good sign that we do not have our full trust in the Lord in some area, is how we react when difficulty happens. Do we navigate it with joy and filled with hope, or do we become discouraged and disheartened quickly? Do we turn to the Lord or away from Him?
In Luke 8, Jesus tells a parable about good soil and planting of seed. As the word of God was planted, not all who heard it, received it. Jesus notes, “Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.”
It is not good enough to hear and know something, but it has to be planted deep down in our heart. Elihu, who God used to help Job connect with God in his time of destress, said to Job about people being oppressed and distressed, “But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven.” (Job 35:10-11)
Rather, Elihu said to Job that we are hypocrites when we proclaim our faith but do not cry out to God when we have difficulty. He says about those who live this way that their soul dies in their affliction. They think they are rich but they are poor because they look only to their own resources to relieve their burden. Yet, the Lord delivers the poor in their affliction and opens their ears in oppression, moving them to a broad place of feasting on richness (Job 35:13-16).
Psalm 23 says that while we will go through dark valleys at times that are filled with affliction and difficulty, the Lord not only comforts and guides us through but prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies, anoints our head with oil and our cup overflows.
Even though difficulty and hardship are painful and feels incredibly uncomfortable, it is our opportunity to shine when we look to and trust the Lord. Paul says in Ephesians 4:21, “If you have really experienced the Anointed One, and heard his truth, it will be seen in your life; for we know that the ultimate reality is embodied in Jesus.”
I remember my mother going through an incredibly hard time in her life at a few points that deeply demonstrated her faith. There was a season of time that I saw her go through loss after loss. First she lost her ability to drive, then she lost her ability to have her own home, then she was diagnosed with cancer, then she was put in a nursing home for a short time when she first broke her back. I remember wheeling her up to the front desk so she could ask permission to go to church. I thought to myself how hard that must be to lose so much and now have to ask permission for even going to church. Yet when we got to church and worship started, her face glowed and she raised her hand up to worship the Lord. There has been several times that I’ve to have to hold her up in worship so she didn’t fall because she refused to stay sitting in the presence of the Lord. No matter what comes, she holds to the hope of a Kingdom to come that is greater where she will be with the Lord forever. Because of her faith and love for Jesus, in times of difficulty, she radiates with joy and gratitude.
Even when we struggle with trusting and look to our own sufficiency, the Lord chases after us. No matter how far we go from the Lord, how angry or disappointed we are for our circumstance or circumstances around us, He is waiting for us and will even chase us down given the opportunity.
In Judges, there are story after story of how distant and far the people of God were getting from following the covenant. There was even a time that a Levite (who was supposed to be dedicated to the Lord) pushed his wife out the door to a band of rapists to satisfy them and to protect himself. He never shed a tear for her, but just went to bed. The next morning, when she was laying on the threshold, he didn’t even check to see if she was alive. In her unresponsive state, he cut up her body and sent it out to the tribes to seek revenge.
This Levite that was to be set apart for the Lord, was callous, cold, downright mean hearted and vengeful. He didn’t see it and probably didn’t care. There is a despair that, like Job, loathes life and does not want to live. But there is also a despair, like this Levite had, of cold indifference when one’s soul dies from rebellion, ones own un-repented sin and generational sin one’s line. In this state of despair, one may be full of pride and so self-focused that they do not even realize their state of extreme poverty and despair. (Rev. 3:17).
Yet, as cold and distant as the people had become to God and others, the Lord didn’t forsake them. When they cried out to the Lord in their affliction, the Lord faithfully sent a judge to help bring them out of their misery and into greater freedom.
The Lord is always willing to deliver us when we seek Him and cry out to Him for help. What matters is not how badly we have sinned or even how far we have fallen but our genuine willingness to turn to the Lord. Like Job, when we find the end of our self-sufficiency, we will see that God’s sufficiency is more than enough if we look to Him.
David Wilkerson, in his book Hungry for More of Jesus, writes that hopelessness is the result of trusting in man. He says that as we look to the Lord, even though we might be going through tough circumstances, we will abound in hope. He writes, “He means that we ‘may have enough to spare, a supply that is overflowing, excessive, beyond measure.” [2]
In Romans 15:13, Paul prays, encouraging the church under intense persecution, “Now may the God, the inspiration and fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with His superabundance until you radiate with hope!”
As Wilkerson notes, that while we have this unceasing, never ending, joy filled stream available to us, there are God’s people that are empty and sad, thinking they are forsaken and unwanted. They are despairing Christians who have forgotten the promises of God and sit dejected beside a stream of love. [3]
The Lord promises joy to those who look to Him. Isaiah 9:1-7 says, “Nevertheless there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time He contemptuously treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee in the nations.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light has shined. You have multiplied the nation and increased the joy; they rejoice before You according to the joy of the harvest as men rejoice when they divide the spoil…”
This grieves the Lord’s heart when His people fail to look up at His radiant face in the midst of their difficulty. He waits and even chases after them. He longs to pour out His Spirit upon the hurting, lost and broken. They just need to turn from their self-sufficiency that is inadequate and see the over abundant adequacy of God.
In Isaiah 41:17-18, he speaks for the Lord, “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongues fail for their thirst, I the Lord, will hear them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and they dry land springs of water.”
For myself, before I came to know the Lord, I struggled with seasons of severe depression. I had bouts that made me despair my life. Yet, as I began to walk with the Lord and seek Him, He totally healed me. My life has never been the same.
Lord, so grateful for Your radiant face that shines in the midst of every difficulty. You are the source and reason for our joy! I pray with Paul that You would fill us to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as we trust in You. In the greatest difficulties, may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround our lives with His superabundance until we radiate with hope!”
- Fire Bible. Modern English Version. Life Publishers International. 2015.
2-3. Wilkerson, David. Hungry for More of Jesus: Experiencing His Presence in These Troubled Times. Chosen Books, Grand Rapids, MI. 1992.
