Trusting in God: What a Full Lean Looks Like

“The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done.” (Psalm 9:9-11, NIV)

Trusting in the Lord is something I’m not quite sure we’re ever done learning, and the odds are, you don’t quite realize just how much you don’t trust in the Lord until someone points out how blatantly independent you are from the Lord.

But this weekend, I was listening to someone else’s testimony about how the Lord used a season of poverty to teach him dependence on the Lord, and he said something that hit me right between the eyes.

It’s easy to believe that we trust in the Lord when trusting His plan doesn’t challenge our opinions on our own comfortability. It’s easy to say, “I trust God enough to do big and crazy things,” when those big and crazy things are adventurous, cool, or easy for us to compromise. So yes, it’s easy to trust the Lord and go on a missions trip, or start a new ministry, or even just wait on His solution.

But what happens when trusting the Lord brings you to a place you never thought you’d be? What happens when you’re sure the Lord called you to do something that everyone questions– even you question– how or why the Lord would ask you to do something? I’m talking about stuff like quitting your job with no new job lined up, or giving your car away to someone in need with no extra set of wheels for yourself, or making life decisions that don’t vibe with your loved ones.

And I know what some of you are thinking: Well that’s just foolish! That’s not trusting in God that’s laziness or spiritual immaturity! God would never call us to do something like that!

Oh, but He does. He did it back in the Bible and He still does it now. Noah built a boat in a world that had never seen a drop of rain. Daniel continued on in his devotion to the Lord knowing that a death sentence was at stake. David was a shepherd boy that carried a promise for decades that he would be king, even into the wilderness. Mary mothered the Son of God as a single virgin, without the permission or consultation of her fiance. The common thread to all of this is only that God just said it, and they said yes. 

The list could go on and on. So why do we think we are exempt from that kind of trust? Why do we believe that radical trust in the Lord is something that isn’t required of us today? Is it because the things God asks us to do are not so… Biblical in nature, or is it because our dependence on God is so self-sufficient that we’re not even listening? And since we're not listening, we aren't tuning in to any of the outlandish things He might ask us to do to draw us away from our comfort zone and into a space where He can display His full and awesome power.

Here’s the real test of trusting in the Lord: full dependence. And you know what the real test of dependence looks like? Accepting a difficult season from the Lord not as a spiritual attack or as an unfortunate turn of events, but as a constant and much-needed reminder to lean farther into Jesus. It’s a season that can seem truly broken from the outside, but the result is truly beautiful: to be trained to constantly live in a posture that requires us to cry out to the Lord for refuge and protection daily, and to praise Him when our impossible situations become a testimony. 

Trust in the Lord, friend. Remember that learning to lean into Jesus is not a lesson that comes easy or without a struggle. Your flesh will never want to be fully dependent on anything but itself. But if the Lord is asking you to do something truly insane, and you know that it is from the Lord, don’t back down. Even if that means the whole world points a finger and laughs at you. Trust in the Lord and remember above all else: He has never forsaken anyone who seeks His face.