Trust vs. Request

TRUST VS REQUEST

When we ask God to please work in a certain way in our situation, (“God, please help me to get this job.”), we are making a request.

When we tell & show God we are going to rest in knowing that He knows what is best, no matter the outcome, we are trusting Him.

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Is making requests to God wrong?

No! The Bible tells us to make our requests known to God. (Philippians 4:6) It is good for us to pour out to Him & tell Him the desires of our heart, even though He already knows.

( Of course, our heart posture does matter here. Are we demanding God handle a situation in a certain way with boldness & stubbornness? Or are we humbly telling him the desires of our hearts?

Also, examine the purpose behind your request. Often times, I begin with telling God what I want to happen. But I try my best to always follow up with the fact that this is purely my selfish desire, whether right or wrong for me. It is good to ask God to mold our desires to reflect His own - that they would be based in all things good & righteous, despite our flesh. It is good to surrender those desires God. Through great surrender comes great trust. )

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Does disappointment mean I am not trusting God?

Not necessarily. It is not sinful for us to be disappointed when things don’t work out as we requested. God understands our human emotions! Disappointment does not always indicate distrust.

We should be cautious not to dwell in the disappointment or frustration as it can lead to discontent & distrust. Being sad something did not happen the way you had prayed is not sinful, but we should always do our best to take these emotions straight to God.

It is the continual dwelling in disappointment and frustration that can cause us to feel as though God does not know best or has made some mistake. Trusting goes against the grain of our human emotions and desires. It is not natural for us to place our trust in Someone whom we cannot see.

Trusting can be difficult; it is not always instantaneous & requires daily surrender + dying to self. Trust is a continual cycle of surrender to Christ. A surrender of our emotions, our desires, our requests. If we are going to present God with our requests, we need to intentionally seek to do so with trust.

I believe both requesting & trusting can happen simultaneously. We can tell God what we desire to happen, but still ultimately trust that His ways our better & higher than our own.

We may become disappointed if things do not turn out like we requested, but we should not blame God for this or get angry as if He didn’t answer our prayer. He ALWAYS answers our prayers. It is either a yes, no, or not right now. While our human flesh desires an immediate solution, Christ offers something even better: His way. And we can trust that His ways our so much higher than our own.

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Gratitude for disappointments:

The very idea of being thankful for a disappointment seems so contradictory. We attribute thankfulness with happiness, gratitude with satisfaction. But it does not have to be this way.

We must begin with this thought: God is all-knowing. He is Sovereign. He is Lord. He is perfect. He is holy. His ways our best. He works all things for our good & His glory. (Romans 8:28)

Because of these things, we can strive to be thankful for not only the things that go as we desired/planned, but also for the things that disappointed us.

We strive to do this by, dare I say again, surrender. By praying, by pouring out to God, by humbling ourselves, by crucifying the flesh & dying to self.

I love that song that says:

“I thank God for the mountains

And I thank Him for the valleys

I thank Him for the storms He’s brought me through

For if I never had a problem

I wouldn’t know that He could solve them

I’d never know what faith in God could do

Through it all

Through it all

I’ve learned to trust in Jesus

I’ve learned to trust in God

Through it all

Through it all

I’ve learned to depend on His Word”

"Through It All" by Andraé Crouch

When we concentrate on His character, we can learn to find thankfulness and satisfaction in trusting Him rather than in getting the answer we desired. We can be thankful even when we are disappointed. We can find gratitude even when it is difficult to find satisfaction. Thankfulness does not have to be rooted in happiness.

Fill your mind with God’s Word, child of God! Saturate your mind with the fullness of His character! We must humble ourselves by realizing that our ways can NEVER be better than our Creator’s!

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Will I ever understand why things did not turn out like I hoped?

One day, we may be able to look back on being disappointed by the results of a situation & see the bigger picture, realizing that things would not have been better if they had turned out like we prayed/requested.

So many times, with both big and little situations, I have been able to look back and see why a door was closed, why God said "no" or "not yet", why my heart had to be broken, why a friend walked away, why I had to endure something, why that thing had to happen.

Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and shake myself, saying, "If you would have just held on and stopped complaining and whining! God has such a bigger and better plan for this that you can't see yet!"

God is ever-trying to mold our hearts and desires to His will.

But even if we are not ever able to fully understand the reason “why”, we can rest in knowing that He sees what we don’t. He knows what is best for us. Even if it is not what we desire, it is for our good & His glory.

Not knowing why things have happened a certain way is part of trusting God.

Seeing the impossibility or uncertainty of a situation can be used to shape our faith instead of weaken our trust. If we knew the reasoning behind every decision - every job loss, every lost friendship, every failed relationship, every health concern, every loss of a loved one, every financial struggle, every twist or bump in the road - we would never have to trust God. We would never know what our faith in Him could do. We would never know what it feels like to blindly put our hand in His & say, “Lead the way, Lord.”

We see the problem, the loss, the confusion, the “unanswered” prayer, the waiting. He sees the end result. He sees what would happen if we got our own way. He sees what would happen if somebody else got their way with our situation. He sees what would happen if He worked things in a different direction.

How can we trust anyone more than this?

The One who created us, who knows where every path leads, where every decision takes us, what is good & what is evil. He is the One who quite literally created TRUTH. Can we not put our trust & faith in HIM?

Yes, it is sometimes a struggle. We are humans who experience human feelings & emotions.

This struggle is why we must live in prayer & in God’s Word!

We say He hasn’t spoken to us. But when was the last time we picked up the Words He left for us? When was the last time we poured our hearts out to Him? When was the last time we put our own desires & requests aside & simply listened?

Why are we always in such a rush to know the end result? After all, the journey is part of the result. If not for the journey - if we simply got what we asked for as soon as we asked for it - what would we ever truly learn? How would our spiritual lives grow?

I have often confided in friends, "If I only knew for sure I would eventually have this good thing that I desire one day...then I would sit back and just enjoy this process knowing it would end in what I want." For me, it is the not knowing if that desire will ever be fulfilled that causes me agony and stress. If I knew I would eventually have it, I would relax!

But is God not worth trusting? Is He not good enough to fulfill all my true needs? Is He not capable of providing? Is He not enough for me? Does He not know what is best for me? Do I really need to know I will get what I want in order to rest and trust in Him, in order to enjoy this journey? Can I not trust Him with every single step?

Pain & disappointment can easily make it feel as though God is far away.

It can be isolating, it can be heartbreaking, it can be stressful, & if we let it, it can push us away from God. Because that is what would have to happen in order for God to not be near. He never leaves or forsakes His children.

Surely Martha & Mary were in distress thinking Jesus would never come, especially after their brother Lazarus had already died. It probably seemed as if Jesus did not even need come any more; He appeared as too late. The situation seemed hopeless to those who could not see the end result awaiting them on the other side of trust.

Take comfort in that He is “as close as the mention of His name”.

Don’t let pain turn into resentment & distrust. His answer does not determine His proximity to You. His telling you to wait is not in efforts to turn you away, but rather to draw you closer to Him!

Sometimes He wants to teach us that He is all we need!

And how will we ever truly learn this if we are instantaneously given everything we ever want? This kind of life is never fulfilling long term.

A life filled with waiting, unfulfilled prayers & desires, & questions leaves room for trust, faith, humility, & self-denial.

I speak from sincerity as this is something I struggle with daily. All of you who are young adults or who once were can surely relate to similar struggles. There are so many questions, so many different paths, so many unknowns, so many options (& sometimes not enough), so much waiting, so much learning. My prayer is that these times do not cause me to become anxious or frustrated but instead teach me to trust in God more & more. I thank Him for all the times that things did not turn out that way I requested. If I have learned anything, it is that my plans are not nearly as amazing, beneficial, or fulfilling as God’s plans. I am so glad we serve an all-knowing, all-sufficient Creator!

We may say, “Well I’ve trusted God because I told Him what I needed & I asked him to do ___!”

But this is not a picture of trust…it is a request. Trust would say, “Lord, I would love for ___ to happen. But, I know that You know best, & I pray that Your will be done in my life & in this situation. I surrender it to You. Please ease my anxieties & mold my desires to reflect Your desires for my life. Have Your way, & help me to be at peace with it.”

And this is the importance of learning the difference between trust & request.

Scripture:

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.

Matthew 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Proverbs 16:20 He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.

Psalm 145:18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Psalm 27:14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.

Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

Proverbs 16:9 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Philippians 4:19-20 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.