Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions (8 page)

I
love this psalm because this principle is so powerful: life is enjoyable when people live in unity and keep strife (conflict) out of their lives.
On the other hand, there is nothing worse than a home or relationship filled with an angry undercurrent of strife.

Perhaps that’s why unity is one of the last things Jesus prayed about before He was arrested and crucified. During the Last Supper He prayed, “That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me” (John 17:21).

You might be able to preach a sermon or memorize Bible verses. You might do many good works and share the message of salvation with others. However, if you do all this, yet you are living in strife rather than in unity, your life will lack peace, joy, and blessing.

If you are wondering why you aren’t experiencing more of God’s power and blessing in your life, look at your relationships. Do you have strife with your spouse, your children, your coworkers, or your fellow believers? Do you cause or participate in conflict in your church or on the job?

Do all you can to keep the strife out of your life and live in peace. Remember, where there is unity, there will also be anointing and blessing.

I
enjoy just reading over this passage and soaking up the power from its principles for successful daily living. It gives four specific principles for those who want to enjoy life:

1. Keep your tongue free from evil.
God’s Word states clearly, the power of life and death is in the mouth. We can bring blessing or misery into our lives with our words. When we speak rashly we often get into arguments, so choose your words carefully.

2. Turn away from wickedness.
We must take action to remove ourselves from wickedness or from a wicked environment. The action we must take could mean altering our friendships; it could even mean loneliness for a period of time. But you can always trust God to be with you.

3. Do right.
The decision to do right must follow the decision to stop doing wrong. Both are definite choices. Repentance is twofold; it requires turning
away
from sin and turning
to
righteousness.

4. Search for peace.
Notice that we must search for it, pursue it, and go after it. We cannot merely
desire
peace without any accompanying action, but we must
desire
peace
with
action. We need to search for peace in our relationship with God and with others.

When I started living by these principles, not only did my relationships improve, but so did my health, my attitude, and all areas of my life. The same will be true for you.

I
f we choose to put our faith (trust and confidence) in ourselves, we will quickly learn that self-care does not produce supernatural results. For years I wore myself out mentally, emotionally, and physically trying to take care of myself instead of casting my care on God and trusting Him to take care of me. Because of the sexual and emotional abuse I endured as a child at the hands of people who should have taken care of me, and again during my first marriage, I thought I was the only person I could trust. I did not understand that my efforts at self-care were only adding to the problems in my relationships and life.

The Book of James clearly shows us how strife comes in as we try to provide for ourselves instead of trusting God: “What leads to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and fightings) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members? You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war. You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:1–2).

When you feel frustrated, it is usually because you are trying to do what only God can do. Retire from self-care and start trusting God more. Ask God for what you want and need and trust that He will give it to you in His own way and timing.

M
any people have difficulty trusting God because of past hurts. But God is not like the people who have hurt us. We can trust Him!

Although God wants to take care of us, His hands are tied by our unbelief and works of the flesh. He is a gentleman and will not just take over without being invited to do so. He waits until we give up the job of self-care and place our trust and confidence in Him. The law of faith, mentioned in 1 Peter 5:7, is this:
When you stop trying to take care of yourself, you release God to take care of you!
(Paraphrased.)

I have discovered that it is very hard to walk in obedience to God and in love with others if my primary interest is that “I” don’t get hurt or taken advantage of. However, when I allow God to be God in my life, He honors three distinct promises He makes in Psalm 91:15: He’ll be with me in trouble, He’ll deliver me, and He will honor me.

Honor is a place of lifting up. When God honors a believer, He lifts up or exalts that person. When we let go and do not try to care for ourselves, we are admitting that we need God’s help. It is an act of humility, and that act of faith places us in the direct line of God’s exaltation. Peter wrote, “Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you…” (1 Pet. 5:6).

When we trust God, we are in line for a promotion. God will honor us and reward us as we place our faith in Him. In the world’s system, you work hard and then get your reward. In God’s economy, you trust Him deeply and then receive your reward.

A
re you at peace with yourself? Since we spend more time with ourselves than we do with anyone else, not liking who we are is a major problem. After all, we cannot get away from ourselves. And if we don’t enjoy ourselves, we usually don’t enjoy anyone else, either.

This was true for me. I suffered from not liking myself for many years, but I didn’t realize it. Nor did I understand that my self-rejection and self-hatred were why I didn’t get along with most people and why most people could not get along with me.

The way we see ourselves is the way others will see us. We see this principle illustrated in Numbers 13, when the twelve spies Moses sent to investigate the Promised Land came back from their scouting expedition. Ten of the spies gave a very negative report: “There we saw the Nephilim [or giants], the sons of Anak, who come from the giants;
and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight
” (Num. 13:33, emphasis added).

Because ten of the spies saw themselves as “grasshoppers,” their enemy saw them as grasshoppers, too. How can we expect others to accept us if we reject ourselves? How can we expect to make peace with others if we haven’t made peace with ourselves?

God’s Word assures us that we have tremendous value because of who we are—God’s beloved children. What I do is not always perfect. But I still know who I am—a child of God whom He loves very much.

You have tremendous worth and value. You are special to God, and He has a good plan for your life (see Jer. 29:11). You have been purchased with the blood of Christ (see Acts 20:28). The Bible refers to the “precious blood of Christ,” indicating Christ paid a high price indeed to ransom you and me (1 Pet. 1:19). Believe you are God’s beloved child. The truth will bring healing to your soul and freedom to your life.

T
he Bible contains many examples of weak people through whom God chose to accomplish great things for His glory, including His disciples. They were ordinary men who possessed weaknesses, just like you and me.

The gospels clearly imply Peter was a rugged and volatile fisherman who displayed impatience, anger, and rage. In one crucial moment, he was so fearful that he would be discovered to be a disciple of Jesus that he succumbed to a cowardly act—he denied that he even knew Jesus. Andrew may have seemed too softhearted to be a leader; Thomas was a man riddled with doubt, afraid to place his trust in his Leader.

And then there was Matthew. The religious leaders of the day were outraged that Jesus would even consider socializing with this lowly tax collector. Imagine their horror when Jesus dined with Matthew and invited him to become one of His followers and close associates.

Probably the only man the religious leaders would have considered worthy of any admiration at all was Judas. To the world’s eye, Judas had business strengths and personality qualities that spelled success. But his greatest natural strengths became his greatest weaknesses—and brought destruction into his life.

I find it interesting that those whom the world recommended, Jesus rejected. And those whom the world rejected, Jesus said, in essence,
“Give them to Me. I don’t care how many faults they have. If they will trust Me, I can do great and mighty things through them.”

F
or years I tried to fight my flaws and change myself, but I never made much progress. I had many traits that would not have been suitable for a minister. Yet I believed God had called me to minister on His behalf, and because He called me, He filled me with desire to do it. So, I tried to be everything I thought God wanted me to be. I would determine, resolve, and exercise all the self-control I could muster.

Although I did improve, there were still those awful moments when the real me emerged. I am sure during those times people looked at me and said,
“No way! God can’t be calling you to do anything major for Him.”

I wanted to believe God and to believe what my heart was telling me, but I heard the voices of people, and I let their opinions affect me. I also listened to the devil, who gave me a running daily inventory of all my flaws and inabilities. He reminded me how often I had tried to change and failed.

Then, after I had spent years wondering,
“How can God ever use me?”
God finally showed me that my constant victory was dependent on my constant abiding in and leaning on Him. Knowing this truth forces me to lean on Him continually. My need drives me to seek Him and to lean on Him at all times. By God’s grace, I finally came to believe He chose me on purpose. I was not pushed off on the Lord as a “last resort.” He chose me!