Trusting the ultimate problem solver

CHILDLIKE  FAITH

Trusting the ultimate problem solver

Written by Heather Hart

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.   -  Proverbs 3:5

Have you ever observed the way that babies interact with their parents? When they are hungry, they cry and they know that their mommies or daddies will feed them. As they grow older, and learn to talk, when they are hungry they go to their parents and simply tell them. Once again, they expect that their parents will see to it that their needs are met. But it's not just when they are hungry: anytime a small child has a problem, they turn to their parents. Whether their brother stole their toy or fell and scraped their knee, they know and trust, that their parents are capable to solve any problem that they come across. However, as we grow up, things change a bit. We start to lean on our own understanding. We start to trust ourselves, and eventually, we think we know more than mom and dad (wouldn't you agree?).

Today, while I was pondering on the above information, it really stuck with me that our spiritual growth sometimes resembles the latter instead of the former. Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."(Luke 18:17). Yet we tend to spend our lives in the no-it-all phase when it comes to trusting Christ. Yes, we know He is there, we know that God is all-knowing, and we know that He is trustworthy, but we want to do it all on our own. Instead of trusting in the one we know is trustworthy, we lean on our own understanding... Sound familiar. We treat God the same way that we treat our parents, or at least I do. Instead of bringing my problems before God, and waiting for Him to tell me how to fix them, I simply keep trying on my own.

It's like trying to learn to swim without listening to your swimming instructor. The more I try to do it on my own, the more I sink. I sit their floundering, gasping for air, but I have too much pride to accept that I need help from my coach. Other times, it's like I already know how to swim, but I'm training for a race. Instead of listening to the one who can help me get better so that I can win, I trust that I am already good enough. When race day comes around, I end up in last place. Not because I wasn't capable of winning, but because instead of accepting the help I needed to get better, I trusted that I knew it all. Have you ever done that? Do you do that when your parents are trying to help you with your homework, or when you need help knowing how to handle any other problems? Whether we need help from our parents, our pastors, or our God, we have to learn not only to ask, but to accept help when it's offered... not just rely on our own knowledge and abilities. It's a hard lesson, but I think I'm learning. What about you?

Reflection:

Who is your trust in? Do you trust in yourself and lean on your own understanding, or do you put your trust and your faith in the one who made you?

Application Step:

Ask and accept help today. Whether that means praying to God for help, or just approaching your parents, stop leaning on your own understanding, and put your trust in Christ.

Prayer:

Father God, I owe you an apology. I have been trying to do things on my own; trusting in myself and my own abilities instead of in you. Please forgive me, Lord. Help me to have a childlike faith that trusts you to be my problem solver. Help me to stop being a little miss know-it-all, because that is the way that I have been acting. Lord, I need your help in this. I need your help to let go of my pride, and accept help from you, and from those that you have put in my life to help me...like my mom and dad. I ask these things in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, today. Amen.

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