Trusting God

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly,” Psalm 84:11

Last week there was an opportunity I wanted but didn’t get. A few days before that, I heard the Lord say, “Do you trust Me?” I said, “Yes.” Of course, I interpreted this as Him working out the opportunity in my favor. Well, that’s not quite what happened.

I never asked Him for the opportunity and yet, I was disappointed when I didn’t get it. You may wonder why I never asked Him for it. My answer is simple. I wanted His will, not my own. See, there have been times when I have prayed for specific things because I thought such was in my best interest. I didn’t understand why God didn’t think so, too. Later, I realized that what I thought was best wasn’t and then I was thankful that I didn’t get what I wanted. Have you ever looked back over your life and thought, “God, thank You for not listening to me and giving me (fill in the blank)?” Sometimes it’s only after we see that what we wanted really wasn’t as beneficial to us as we thought it would be that we are thankful for closed doors.

Instead of asking God for the opportunity, I prayed for His will to be done. I trusted in the above Scripture, knowing that He would not withhold any good thing from me. Still, I found myself disappointed when things didn’t work out in my favor. I was left with a choice to thank God and trust in His will or sulk and be upset because my will wasn’t done. The natural tendency is to do the latter. Thus, there was a battle between my natural self and my spiritual self. My flesh wanted to get into a funk, but my spirit was determined to praise. I clung to the words of the psalm, knowing that my God is a “sun and shield.”

My God is a shield . . .

Those words ministered to my spirit. A shield provides protection. When we are covered by the shield, we can’t see everything that comes our way, but we remain unharmed because we are under its shelter. While I don’t know why God closed this door, I trust His sovereignty. I thought the opportunity was good for me, but I was dealing with very limited insight. God sees the panoramic view. Trusting in His word means trusting Him even when things don’t make sense to me. It’s with undeniable faith that I thank Him for the closed door. I thank Him for being my shield.

What about you? What closed door has caused you to be disappointed? Do you trust God’s sovereignty? Are you willing to believe that He will not withhold any good thing from you if you walk uprightly? (We can’t neglect the requirement on our part to live according to His statutes.)

God won’t always make sense to us. In fact, He rarely does! However, despite not understanding Him, we are required to trust Him. Are you willing to do that even when things don’t go your way?