From the Bible:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5–6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
So easy to say. But there is such depth to what those words actually mean.
Trusting God with all our heart means placing the full weight of our confidence in who God is- His character, His wisdom, His goodness and His faithfulness. We trust Him when we can see what He is doing, and we trust Him when we cannot.
Sometimes we pray from a place where, if we are honest, we really just want God to agree with us. We have made a plan. We know what we want to happen. We know how we think the situation should work out, and we ask God to make it happen.
But trusting God with all our heart is something deeper. It means being willing to come before Him and say:
“Lord, I have a preference. I know what I want. But I want Your way more than I want my way.”
Trust is not the absence of questions. God is not afraid of our questions, our disappointment or our emotions. We can bring the entire range of what we are feeling before Him. In fact, it is often through bringing it all to God that we discover a deeper and richer trust in Him.
Hannah Brought It All to God
We see this beautifully in the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1.
Hannah’s heart’s desire was to have a child. She had lived with the pain of that unanswered longing for years. Her husband loved her deeply, but even his love could not take away the ache she carried.
When Hannah went to the house of the Lord, she didn’t pretend everything was okay.
She brought it all to God.
She prayed. She wept. She poured out her soul before the Lord.
And this was likely not the first time Hannah had prayed about this. Sometimes trusting God means bringing Him something we have already brought Him many times before.
Maybe you can relate to Hannah.
Perhaps your heart’s desire is for a relationship to be restored. Maybe you are praying for a marriage partner, meaningful work or direction for your life. Maybe you are asking God for healing for yourself or someone you love. Perhaps you are praying for your children or family, for an opportunity, or for something you have been waiting on for a very long time.
Some burdens become so heavy that we understand what it means to simply pour our hearts out before the Lord.
But there is a beautiful moment at the end of this passage.
After Hannah prayed, Scripture says:
“Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.” – 1 Samuel 1:18
Think about that.
Her circumstances had not changed yet.
She didn’t know that Samuel would be born. She didn’t know how God was going to answer her prayer. She walked away from that moment without the answer she had been asking for.
But she walked away differently.
She had poured out her heart and entrusted her deepest desire to God.
That is trust.
Trust isn’t always saying, “I know exactly what God is going to do.”
Sometimes trust is saying, “I don’t know what God is going to do, but I know who God is.”
Proverbs tells us that as we trust Him and acknowledge Him, “He will make your paths straight.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean God will show us His entire plan. It doesn’t mean everything will happen according to what we hope or on the timeline we would choose.
Sometimes He simply lights up the next step.
As we acknowledge Him and continue following Him, He guides and directs us. We don’t have to see the whole road to take the next faithful step.
God is ever-present.
God is faithful.
And when we cannot understand what He is doing, we can still trust who He is.
Maybe today there is something you need to bring before the Lord again. Tell Him what you want. Tell Him what hurts. Tell Him what you are afraid of. Ask the questions you have been carrying.
And then, like Hannah, entrust it to Him.
You don’t have to know how the story ends to trust the One who holds it.
Prayer
God, I don’t have to understand everything in order to trust You. I will use the wisdom You have given me, but I won’t make my own understanding my foundation.
I bring before You the things I desire, the things that hurt, the things I fear, and the things I cannot see or understand. I surrender them to You.
Help me to trust Your character, Your wisdom, Your goodness and Your faithfulness. When I cannot see the whole path ahead, show me the next faithful step and give me the courage to take it.
Lord, I have my preferences, but more than anything, I want Your way.
Amen.
Dawn Berry
Executive Assistant
