God Promises to be Trustworthy
Do you believe that God is trustworthy?
Verse of the Day
“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.”
Today’s Devotional
There are things we are going to have to wait for in this life. It’s just a fact of our existence. The goal, then, might be to learn to wait well. Today’s verse tells us how to wait well. We must hold on to hope as we wait.
How exactly does one hold on to hope? I believe that in order to keep hoping in God and keep my faith growing while I wait, I have to look for the breadcrumbs. Hear me out. Sometimes when we are waiting on a “big” thing, we need to see little pieces of evidence that God is hearing us and that He is moving. And sometimes those reminders that God is moving don’t have anything to do with what I’m waiting for. For example:
- You see a beautiful sunrise or sunset and remember that God is good. Breadcrumb.
- You are praying and you see a cardinal (or whatever creature reminds you that God is with you). Breadcrumb.
- You get some unexpected encouragement. Breadcrumb.
- You get encouragement from an unexpected source. Breadcrumb.
- You have a moment of full-on belly laughter and it resets your brain. Breadcrumb.
- God shows His kindness is some unexpected way. Breadcrumb.
- You see a tiny bit of progress in the area in which you are waiting. Breadcrumb.
When I take the time to really focus my mind and my heart on God each day, He shows up. When I need and ask for breadcrumbs, He gives them. Sometimes with answers to specific prayers, sometimes with small kindnesses that could only come from God. When one of those things happens, it is a breadcrumb. Many say, “It’s a God thing.” If my perspective is right, I see God show up, and sometimes show off. Those little breadcrumbs remind me that God is trustworthy. If God is faithful in the little details of my life, if those things matter to him, then how much more can I hope for God to deliver on the big things. And please hear this: It’s ok to ask God for breadcrumbs of hope. I promise.
The “unswerving” part of this verse is important. I cannot let the discouragement or fear of this world turn me aside from my belief in the promises of God. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. But maybe it shouldn’t. There is nothing that can happen in my life that can separate me from the love of God I have in Christ, nor is there anything God cannot overcome. He is always bigger.
I read something recently that I think fits with this discussion. “Both faith and fear have something in common. They both ask us to believe in what we don’t see.” I can’t physically see God, but I can see the evidence of his love and power. So faith and hope ask me to believe in a God I cannot see. On the other hand, I cannot see fear, but I can see a world in crisis, a struggling economy, others behaving in fearful ways, others making choices in their lives that are not God’s will, and many other things that point me toward fear. So fear- which I cannot see- asks me to believe, based on what I can see in this world, that God is not in control. Given those two options, it’s sometimes easier to believe fear. Because the evidence for fear is louder. But does that really help me? Choosing to give in to fear is swerving from our hope in God. And we are being told not to swerve. We are being actively challenged to believe that God really is trustworthy.
Lastly, the whole time I’ve been writing this, the verse from 1 Corinthians 13:13 kept coming to my mind. ‘Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.’ So the whole time I am holding tight to my hope, which builds my faith – I need to be focused on love. God’s love for me, my love for him, and how I can love others well. I believe that the more I love, the more tightly I’ll be able to hold on to hope. So maybe being a person loved by God, who spends time and energy loving others, helps me to believe in God’s promise that He is worthy of trust.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How have you swerved from your hope in God in recent weeks (or even today)?
What breadcrumbs of hope can you identify? Be specific. If you can’t think of any, please ask God. Then be looking.
Do you believe that God is trustworthy? Why or why not?
How can you choose to believe in God’s promise that He is trustworthy? What does that look like today?