Late last summer, within the span of a single month, I fell through two chairs. I will admit, I’m not a petite woman; I am tall, but fairly average. Neither chair looked unsafe. I didn’t feel the need to inspect them. I simply sat down. And for a time, both chairs held me.
Until they didn’t. On both occasions, there was no warning, no ominous sound of ripping fabric. I was just seated one moment and on the ground the next. Both chairs turned out to be dry rotted. Since then, I can assure you, I give unfamiliar chairs a sideways glance. Falling like that can make a cynic out of anyone. I have learned ...not all chairs can be ‘trusted’.
A couple weeks ago, I shared some thoughts on Psalm 37 and God’s instruction to ‘fret not.’ Instead, we are commanded to ‘trust in the Lord.’
But what does that trust look like?Can I trust God?Do I sometimes give Him a suspicious glance?Do I trust that He knows what He’s doing?
Especially when ‘what He’s doing’ makes me feel incredulous?
One of the commandments God gave the children of Israel in Leviticus 25 was to set apart the seventh year and allow the land to rest. They weren’t to plant any food.
If you’ve ever depended on a garden for food, you know that the green beans you planted in 2024 fed you in 2025. And a bountiful harvest one year can make up for a lean year the next. If the commandment was not to plant...how would they survive? How could that be sustainable?
Unbelief arises—a nice word for ‘suspicion,’ ‘doubt,’ and ‘lack of trust’.
The children of Israel were a doubtful bunch.
Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? (Psalm 78:19)
And yet the merciful Father anticipates this and tells them:
I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; —Leviticus 25:21, 22
He knows our frame. He knows our tendency to doubt and He responds with abundant blessings. As Christ told the disciples:
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. —Matthew 6:31, 32
Over and over in Scripture, God reminds us of His promise to provide for us.
Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. —Psalm 55:22
But we still want to cling to our own burdens at times, don’t we? Why? If He promises to provide...?
But I don’t see the solution! We say. I don’t see the provision! It feels like everything is falling apart! We grow restless.
Our loving Heavenly Father anticipated this as well, and gently says--”Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall:“ (Ruth 3:18)
Sit still.Calm down.
What do the experts say when an emergency arises? “Stay calm.” Why? Panicking affects your ability to think clearly. You may act impulsively and cause more harm, or you may freeze and not be able to react at all, furthering the damage. When you are calm, others around you can remain calm. This is why we laud our first responders as heroes, because of their super-human ability to remain calm under pressure.
Their strength is to sit still. —Isaiah 30:7b. For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses... 30:15, 16 ...blessed are all they that wait for him. 30:18b
The ‘horses’ there represent misplaced trust. The Egyptian horses, the world’s methods.
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord! —Isaiah 31:1
Like Saul, who was afraid of the Philistines in 1 Samuel 28—he could not wait for an answer from the Lord, and sought answers from the witch at Endor. We too, tend to run around seeking our own solutions, figuring it out on our own.
Let me see what Google says. Well, what do my friends on Facebook think? What does ChatGPT say about it? What if the answer is out there, I just need to search harder?
We whip ourselves into a frenzy trying to figure out a solution to our problem when the Lord is quietly inviting us to simply trust Him. He that believeth shall not make haste. Isaiah 28:16
Don’t be in a hurry.Sit still.Trust.
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.—Psalm 27:14
And while we wait, we rehearse.
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. —Psalm 20:7
This was where the children of Israel failed most often. The commandment was clear—don’t be afraid, trust. Remember.
Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; —Deuteronomy 7:18
This is why it is so important to testify of God’s blessings! Have you forgotten all the little miracles He’s blessed and provided with over the years? Keep a record of His goodness.
I have some of my Grandma’s prayer lists and love hunting for her “A.P.” —notes of answered prayers. I mark stars next to my own answered prayers. My prayer journal is full—not just of requests and worries, but thank you notes I have written to God. How uplifting is it to go back through and remind myself how good God has been!
Like those dry-rotted chairs, some things appear trustworthy only to fail after we have put our full weight on them for a time. But past experience has shown me that no matter what I have been through, the Lord has not failed me once. He has sustained me and continues to.
For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. —Psalm 33:21
Yes, trusting the Lord can be scary at times.Yes, He works on His own timetable and is never in a hurry. But don’t doubt His power to part the Red Sea the very moment you need to cross.
Trust Him. Rejoice! And say confidently:
For the Lord God will help me: therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. —Isaiah 50:7
