Learning how to trust God fully is a journey that every Christian should be learning. It is not an easy one but it is a very worth it journey. Along with the beautiful things in life, it is also full of struggles and tough challenges. No human being is exempted from life’s challenges. We all have to go through it. And the faster we learn how to trust God fully in all circumstances, the more sweet our life will be.
Let’s look at some scriptures in the bible God has given us talking about giving our life issues over to Him.
1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 55:22
Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved.
The above 3 scriptures mentions how God cares for us and how we should give our burdens & anxieties over to Him. He has all the power to take care of us when we give all control over to Him. He mentions it many times over again in His Word to reassure us that He is with us and is more than capable to take care of us when we give Him control over our lives.
Let’s look at the life of Peter and an incident that is shown in the bible about walking in faith and trusting Jesus. In Matthew 14, following the occasion of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus instructed his disciples to board a ship and cross the Sea of Galilee while he remained behind to send away the multitude and to pray. A windstorm arose on the sea during the voyage, and the small ship was tossed among the waves. To add to their distress, the disciples were confronted with what they thought was a spirit, and they cried out in fear. What they saw was Jesus walking on the water. Although Jesus announced that it was Him, and that they need not fear, some on the ship were skeptical. “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter said, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” He said.
Peter left the boat and, like Jesus, walked on the water. But when Peter’s attention was diverted from Jesus to the winds around him, his faith began to weaken, and he began to sink helplessly into the water. He cried out, asking Jesus for help. After grabbing Peter’s hand and assuring his safety, Jesus chastised Peter by saying “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. (Matthew 14:31-32)
This was an amazing event, demonstrating to the Lord’s disciples his power over the elements of nature. I believe that He was teaching an important concept concerning our relationship with him as our Savior. I believe that there is more than 1 meaning of this incident. On the surface we have an exciting adventure at sea, where the Lord with supernatural power saves a disciple from drowning and also possibly saving the ship from sinking. On another level we think on authority, power, and the nature of miracles. We see that the forces of nature have to bow down in authority to Jesus. On still another deeper level we may see additional significance in what took place that day on the Sea of Galilee, a symbolism that can teach us much about our own experience in life.
When we look at the account in the bible, we see that in the beginning, Peter’s attention was drawn from Jesus, the object of his faith, and not the huge storm around him but in a moment of confusion, fear overpowered his faith, and Peter started to fall.
Just like Peter learned, even things in this world that we think we can rely on can sometimes ‘sink’ when life challenges come our way. Even when we plan the best that we can in life, sometimes our best plans can crumple and fall. But just like Peter we can discover that our Savior stands nearby, ready to help us if we will but reach out to him and accept his divine assistance. We do not need to struggle alone.
When we come to Jesus, we must acknowledge that all the things or even people that we put our trust in can fail but He never will. We must be fully convinced in our hearts that He is our faithful support and that no matter what storms come our way, we are safe with our savior, as long as we don’t take our eyes off of Him.
So it is the same in our lives! As we learn the gospel and develop our faith, we reach the point where we feel strong enough to leave the boat; we determine to only trust Jesus and not any worldly supports. We walk by faith, constantly looking at our savior. Each step for us may be a trial. The waves around us are as real in their way as Peter’s waves were to him. And, like Peter, we may slip! We may start to get anxious and in confusion, desperation and worry we may start to consider the safety of the ship. But if we ever slip and feel like we are sinking, the outstretched hand of our savior Jesus will pull us safely towards Him. And Jesus will calm our storm.
So I want to encourage you not to worry today, and do as the Word tells us – to cast all your anxieties and burdens in your life on Jesus, because He cares for you. Look towards Him because your faithful savior will not fail you. He will be there to help you up even if you slip in any storm. And He will calm your storm.