Monday Morning Blogs are back after my holiday sabbatical from writing. I hope you all had a blessed celebration of our Savior’s birth and are ready to start the New Year with God as your Shepherd and Guide! I’m refreshed and refueled, ready to face 2022 with God as my Savior, Provider, Healer, Protector, and so much more.
2022 is starting out with many of the same challenges and struggles carrying over from the past year with new ones on the horizon. But one thing we as Christians can always count on every year: Our God Reigns! He never changes and He is faithful to His faithful followers no matter the circumstances we find ourselves encountering.
Proverbs 3:5-6 is a familiar verse and one we must hold close to our hearts and live out, not just memorize!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Pr. 3:5-6 NLT
As Christians, we use freely the phrase “trust in the Lord,” but recently I was challenged to consider what does it really mean to solely trust God.
A familiar hymn we sing in church, Trust and Obey, says there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Who doesn’t want to be happy in Jesus?! It seems the only way to do that is to not only trust in Jesus, but to also obey His Word and His Ways. It’s two-fold!
My Trust and Obey Encounter for 2022
In the past few years, I’ve prayed for a word from God that He specifically wants to use in guiding my life in the upcoming year. A word I would pray every morning to direct my actions and thoughts throughout the day. I don’t take this “word” selection lightly. I pray about it and look for confirmations the Lord always provides. When I select one, I find it helpful to share my word with friends so they can encourage me to stay faithful to apply the chosen word in my life, and I do the same for them.
2018’s word was Calm, a real challenge for excitable me! 2019 was JOY. 2020 was Glorify. 2021 was Resilience, which a friend advised me not to choose because it’s kind of like praying for patience. Resilience could mean I would encounter many obstacles and hardships, which indeed was the case. But praying for resilience every morning helped me face all those difficulties knowing that God was right beside me to help me endure with grace and bounce back with determination.
Sometimes, I make my words into acrostics:
J-ubliation O-ngoing all Y-ear
C-all A-lways on the L-ord M-oment by moment
I’ve always toyed with choosing “Trust,” but it never seemed the right fit even though I had written it down as a potential yearly word several times. Yet there it was again this year as the New Year approached and I was wrestling with the Lord if trust truly was the word He wanted for me. I wasn’t settled in my spirit on it, and like resilience, I wondered what I would face that would call on my trust in the Lord. After all, don’t I already trust You Lord?
Then on New Year’s Day, we were invited over to some friend’s house for a lovely Italian turkey luncheon. As I talked with one of the guests, I glanced over her shoulder and there on a side table was a wooden plaque that caught my eye. I quietly walked over to it and snapped a picture because I knew the Lord was telling me that TRUST was my word for 2022.
Like most of you, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the coming year in our personal lives or the life of our country, but I do know that every morning, I will need to trust that God does know and like the old hymn Trust and Obey goes on to say . . .
Not a shadow can rise,
Not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear,
Not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Not a burden we bear,
Not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss,
Not a frown or a cross,
But is blest if we trust and obey.
But we never can prove
The delights of His love,
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows,
And the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
Then in fellowship sweet
We will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
What He says we will do;
Where He sends, we will go.
Never fear, only trust and obey.
source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/miscellaneouslyrics/christianlyrics/trustandobeylyrics.html
I’m not saying anyone is more spiritual for having a “word” for the year, but I am saying that trust in God is the core foundation of our faith. Without trust in the Lord, we’re left with misplaced trust in ourselves and/or a failing world which shouts, “trust the science,” when a good portion of the world doesn’t trust God’s scientific creation of two genders, marriage is between a man and a woman, or birth starts at conception! How could we ever trust the fallible government instead our infallible God?!
Even when his enemies closed in on him, David could still compose his own song about trusting God in Psalm 31. Here are a few verses and I would encourage you to read the entire Psalm . . .
O Lord, I have come to you for protection;
don’t let me be disgraced.
Save me, for you do what is right.
2 Turn your ear to listen to me;
rescue me quickly.
Be my rock of protection,
a fortress where I will be safe.
3 You are my rock and my fortress.
For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger.
4 Pull me from the trap my enemies set for me,
for I find protection in you alone.5 I entrust my spirit into your hand.
Rescue me, Lord, for you are a faithful God.
I hate those who worship worthless idols.
I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love,
for you have seen my troubles,
and you care about the anguish of my soul.
8 You have not handed me over to my enemies
but have set me in a safe place.
14 But I am trusting you, O Lord,
saying, “You are my God!”
15 My future is in your hands.
Love the Lord, all you godly ones!
For the Lord protects those who are loyal to him,
but he harshly punishes the arrogant.
24 So be strong and courageous,
all you who put your hope in the Lord!
Praying for each of you to have a blessed and joyful 2022 as you trust in the Lord even when you don’t understand what He’s doing. Someday, it will all be made clear to us, but for now, we trust and obey.
Those who listen to instruction will prosper; those who trust the Lord will be joyful. Pr. 16:20 NLT
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Corrie ten Boom
PS If you did pick a word for 2022, please share with us in a comment!
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So nice to see your blog in my email this morning.💕
What’s interesting is my scriptures for today was Proverbs 3:5&6, Trusting in the Lord is obeying HIM. As we sit in 1 degree weather outside this morning, Trust is really big to my hubby and I. As I wrote these scriptures in my journal today, at the bottom of the page another scripture summed it up: I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. Phil. 3:13. Yes and amen!
Thank you, Janet for always being obedient and trusting the Lord at all times.
Kathy, I’m not always obedient and trusting the Lord like He wants me to be, which is probably why He gave me Trust for 2022! I love the confirming Scriptures in your devotional this morning. So God!