‘Trusting, Reliant, Confident’

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought”

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Trust and Confidence are the central theme for me in this passage today.

Trust requires reliance on someone or something else to accomplish a promise made. Confidence is the surety, the end result of trusting,

Example: I trust, the information my Doctor gave to me to treat my medical condition, that being the remaining traces of cancer around my colon. I trust that his recommendation will eliminate the traces of cancer in the 8 treatments. I am relying upon the expertise and experience of Dr. Lowe to make an accurate evaluation and monitoring of my progress I am trusting and relying that ultimately GOD sent Him to help me.

Now, Confidence comes in the form that because I have a relationship with this Dr. Lowe and his history in treating patients like me, I have confidence that God will give Dr. Lowe wisdom and discernment to treat me successfully.,

Trust~ Reliance on the integrity, ability, surety of a person: confidence and a confident expectation of hope.

Reliance~ Confident, trustful dependence.

Confidence~ Full trust on the reliability of a person.

Now for today’s passage, central theme of the exhortation is Trust. Placing our trust in God.

The question is can we trust in God? Is the Lord really faithful?

There are times I must admit, that I daydream of being alive when Jesus walked the earth or Jeremiah spoke fearlessly God’s hard truth. Daydreaming is one thing; putting our trust in it is another. While we might think that we would more trust Jesus if only we had been part of His earthly work with His disciples, than we would be able to trust Him more.

I’m reminded of the passage in John 14:8 :

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority.

Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

And then reality sets in; the Holy Spirit helps me today to refocus in how especially blessed I am to be alive today. I stand at the end of an incredible stream of God’s work. I can look at history and know God to be profoundly faithful to His people.

I can launch out into the future with boldness because I know God is already there.

That is confidence, trusting Him, reliant on Him totally because I have volumes of real life examples where when I begin to trust in God, taking Him at His Word, I receive the fullness of His blessings in the form of a closer, intimate and more meaningful relationship with Him; and isn’t that the ultimate aspiration in our walk with God?

“He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.”

When I am planted near the source of life giving water, my roots go deep. The nearby waters soak the surrounding ground, as God has made it possible for my roots to push through an already nutrient rich ground, with little effort of my own because God has already been there.

What happens when the tree is not planted by the water?

“It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought”

My biggest fear is that I would look like the tree above, that though it was planted close to the water, and yet it ended up dying. John 15:7-8 : “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you.”

I believe this can happen to any Christian when we are not trusting, reliant, and dependent upon God for each and every need and challenge we face today. Jesus said the key is to abide in Him. Make Him your place where you can take your shoes off and hang out with Him, catching Him up on your latest travails and situations. He also said that if you ‘drink from this water, you will never thirst again.”

Yesterday I went through my sixth round of chemotherapy to treat the traces of cancer near my colon. I can honestly say that had it not been for my trusting, reliance, confidence in the work God is doing, I would have given up. He has shown me that He is working inside of the issue, inside my body, where I can’t see what He is doing. And yet, I just know and believe that I have grown in trusting Him even more, that though I can’t see the evidence of that work until He has competed it,

I have confidence that since He promised me at the beginning, that “that this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God; that the Son of God might be glorified therein” Where is He to be glorified in me? “therein”

Often times, we can’t see tangible physical evidence that He is fulfilling His promise, but that’s because we’re looking the wrong way. He spoke it to my heart, and He is fulfilling it inside my body. In it comes a cost; that being that I do physically feel the excruciating physical effects of the chemo, I count that as ‘gain’ because of the healing that God is bringing unto all that is in me, but always remembering that “He that is in me, is greater”

I have two more treatments to go, and then this part of my journey will be complete, because I believe God at His Word; “He that began this work is faithful to complete it” He has done it. I have just held His hand through it. June 20, I will be having a CAT scan to evaluate the work of the chemo. Pray that God would be glorified in this, and that His Son might be glorified therein”