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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.  Proverbs 3:5-6”  (NKJV)

These verses about trusting the Lord and the promised benefit have been one of my “go-to” scriptures for a long time. You can imagine how thrilled I was to recently hear my three-year-old great-granddaughter lisping through the phone: “Twust in the Lawd with all your hawt…” She recited the whole thing perfectly. I was astonished. Thanks to a godly mother working with her, she will remember that verse all her life.

As I flipped through the channels on my TV today, I happened to come across a 1942 black and white movie about Dagwood Bumstead. I first knew Dagwood as a cartoon character I read in the newspaper every day as a child. In this movie, he had been drafted into the Army to fight in World War II. Upset about being drafted, he said, “I would rather serve my country in my way.”

Isn’t that the same thing we sometimes say to God when He taps us on the shoulder and points us to a particular task He wants us to do? “I’d rather serve You in my way.”

Being asked to do something out of our comfort zone can be unnerving. But what about trusting the Lord with all our hearts?

I confess that recently the Lord whispered into my heart something He wanted me to do, and I had only seconds to decide whether to do it or not. Everything in me wanted to do it, but I thought it might cause the other person to think less of me, so I backed off. Seconds later, she drove away and the opportunity was lost. I don’t even know her name.

Ever since then, the Lord has been speaking to me. What did I miss? What did that other person miss? If I had trusted the Lord with all my heart, how would the future have changed? Would it have even mattered if the other person had thought less of me? Jesus suffered scorn; so why couldn’t I?

I can’t see down the road with my limited human brain, but God can, and I should have trusted Him.

I have been grieving over that decision ever since. I have asked for His forgiveness and asked that He would send someone else to do for her what I should have done. And I have purposed in my heart to obey the voice of God when He calls on me again.

“Father, we ask forgiveness for the times we failed You. Strengthen us to stand firm in our decision to trust You with all our hearts, because we can’t do it in our own human power.”

For His Glory

Cherie Williams (www.cherieharbridgewilliams.com)
TRBC Women’s Life