Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left. [Genesis 13:9]
At time of writing I have just been preaching a series of messages in our church all geared around Godly wisdom for knotty problems. I used a jigsaw puzzle to make the point that at times we can find ourselves holding a piece in our hands that we just don’t know how to make fit. We don’t know what to do with it.
Other times we have a piece that we are utterly convinced fits and we put all our effort in to try and squeeze that piece in to make it fit because we just feel it really is the perfect piece. It’s almost like we are saying to God, ‘I know you gave me these pieces but just hang on a moment, I’ve nearly sorted it. If you could just get this piece in here everything will be fine’.
Trusting yourself or trusting God? That may be one of the hardest lessons we have to learn as we walk with God.
Abram got it right, and he also got it wrong. Personally I take some comfort from that. We can look at these Bible giants sometimes and forget they were just like us, just people doing their best to follow their God and to live for Him.
Trust is a foundational aspect of any important relationship and that is no different when it comes to the relationship with God. To trust is to have faith.
Faith that He will come through for us.
Abram trusted God when it came to his provision. He didn’t just look at things from his own perspective and make a choice of which would be better, instead he left that in God’s hands. He had faith that God would work things out according to His purpose and that He didn’t need Abram to have to act on His behalf. The same attitude should be ours today.
