Life's Daily Challenge Devotional

Trust only Him

“...Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes. But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf shall be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor cease from yielding its fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it. I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his own doings," Jeremiah 17:5-10.

To those who trust in the Lord,

The moment you cut yourself off from the ability to feel pain is the moment you disable yourself from being able to experience or express true love. Love is a two edged sword. On the one side is a wonderful, passionate freedom. On the other are responsibility and pain. You cannot have one without the other. Many people try to have love without pain, commitment, or responsibility. The end result is a warped counterfeit that traps the soul in selfish, addictive bondage. The more we harden our hearts against pain, the more we destroy our ability to deeply commune with God or with other people. We, often unknowingly, sabotage relationships with our protective mechanisms. We starve ourselves of all that lies at the deepest core of our existence. Loneliness, isolation, and depression invade the soul of the one who vows not to be hurt by love.

Love, by essence of what it (He) is, must be vulnerable to pain. Love is the nature of God. The heart of God is to care, to share, and to carry. The one who loves gives his life away in faith that his own needs will be met. Love is most often inconvenient for there are few convenient crosses.

The one who will experience and express love in this way must have God as his only source. Our problem is that we are often seeking to trust in people, things, or even in our own abilities. Jeremiah 17 says that we are cursed if we make flesh our strength. When we put our full trust in the Lord, then we are truly free to give of ourselves.

The world system is to use, exhaust, and then discard. The god of this world system will try to win your trust. Like a drug, he offers "highs" that you can literally chase after for a lifetime. We must put our full trust in the Lord. It is only by doing this that we can be obedient to give ourselves in every situation He calls us to. This is true security. When our approval, affection, and attention come from Him alone, our every need will be met. We must trust that He knows our every need. He will provide our needs through many different sources. We must not depend on the things or people He uses. We must not demand that He use the same source again or do it the same way next time. This is where true freedom and power lie. When God alone is enough we cannot be enslaved or controlled by anything else! It’s in this place that we are truly free to love and give ourselves to others.