I have a top-notch foodie friend. A meal with her always involves something amazing. She is the master of sorting through online reviews and selecting the best option. She is also a great cook! Some of the best pizza, soft tacos, and desserts I have ever had have been with her. So, when we make plans, I want her to choose our meals. I trust her implicitly.
To me, trust is like handing someone an issue in the form of an empty box. The person fills it, passes it back and you get the contents. I trust my friend with dinner plans. I hand her the empty box, she fills it with a scrumptious meal and, upon return, I get to enjoy it! Here are some other examples of what trust looks like in a box:
A challenging situation: You hand a friend your empty box and she fills it with a listening ear, sound advice, and a promise to pray until it is resolved. Upon returning the box, your heart is encouraged and supported.
A painful experience: Your friend fills your box with a hug, some tissues and time for you to talk it out. Your heart feels safe, loved and a little bit healed.
A confusing decision: Your box gets supplied with wise comments, thought provoking questions and patience. You receive clarity and constructive self-reflection.
Now, obviously, trusting the wrong person can be detrimental.
Your challenging situation gets misdirected advice and blows up even further. Your painful experience is exploited, leading to shame and embarrassment. Your confusing decision gets made hastily with damaging consequences.
Make no mistake. Trusting the right person with the right issue is extremely important. But with the correct combination, you reap numerous benefits. So, choose wisely. But know this: the satisfaction of trusting the right person is a taste of the satisfaction of trusting God. A faithful friend will fill your box, but God will make it overflow.
What does God fill an empty box with? Circumstances you could not have orchestrated, courage you never imagined having, hope you never thought realistic, money you never saw coming, healing you never considered possible, and much more!
But to truly experience the benefits of trusting Him, you have to hand off the empty box and allow it to be filled. In other words, you can’t trust Him and fill your own box. (I can’t let my friend choose a restaurant and tell her where to go!) There must be a hand-off involved. Otherwise you are pretending to trust Him, but really trusting yourself.
Last week we looked at Proverbs 3:5-6.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”
We have three tasks and God has one. Our challenge, last week, was to quit attempting His task and focus on ours. Today, let’s look at our first task. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. We know we are supposed to trust Him completely, but now we know why. We can’t get the full benefits of trusting unless we do it wholeheartedly. Did you catch that? Let me say it again more directly:
You can’t get the full benefits of trusting unless you do it wholeheartedly.
And God always wants the most for us. So, trusting Him with all our hearts is done for our sake, not His. Pretty crazy, huh?
Curious to know what He will fill your box with? Initiate the hand-off and prepare to be amazed.
Be Intentional Label your empty box. Mentally place it in His hands and let go. Repeat (just in case you reach for it again).
