Do you ever think God is too busy? Have you ever struggled trusting Him to work out a problem? Maybe in your head pondering: “I’d like to pray about getting help with my flat tire – but there’s quite a bit going on in the U.S., Middle East, Russia, etc. right now.” Or; “This is a mess I’ve made with ___________. It’s my fault. I somehow need to clean it up. God’s probably disappointed with me – He probably won’t answer if I pray about it. I deserve silence.”

Here are three reasons why I believe we are all challenged when it comes to trusting God:

1. We assign human attributes to God. Think of the images we’ve been given over time. An elderly gentleman wearing a white robe with a long, flowing, snow-white beard. Father Time. “Old man up in the sky.” A king sitting on his throne watching the world with a serious and solemn look on his face. The timeless painting on the ceiling of The Sistine Chapel. Then, we can’t help but make him human. He’s probably frustrated with all that’s going on in this magnificent world he gave us that we continue to ruin. I’m sure he’s angry, at least annoyed. How could he not be tired, irritated, and probably let down?
2. We have short term memory regarding our relationship with God. Does anyone else remember watching The Ten Commandments movie once a year as a kid on television? The entire story is found in the Old Testament books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Back to the movie – I remember as a kid wondering how could The Children of Israel turn their backs on God after he rescued them from being slaves for over 400 years? After He did the miracles of parting The Red Sea, destroying Pharoah’s army, and providing food and water for them in the wilderness? Thinking about it – I can do the same thing. Mentally, I can take on the “what have you done for me lately?” attitude – which is a horrible attitude to walk around with. I can forget all the times God protected me in car wrecks or near wrecks, healed me from dreadful illnesses, provided food and clean water so I’ve never gone hungry, opened up job opportunities. The more I reflect, the longer the list would be. How about you?
3. We’ve experienced unanswered prayers to God. Perhaps we’ve prayed. And prayed some more. Prayed through tears and sleepless nights. Nothing changes. Or, things get worse that we are praying about. Then, the negative thoughts start bombarding us. “Why pray if nothing happens? God must not be listening – he’s too busy running the universe. How can I go to God for help when I’m such a sinner who messes up all the time? I wish I was as spiritual as the preacher I watch on YouTube. Man, he must have a direct pipeline to the ear of God.” On and on it goes . . .

The best thing we can do is go to the source of truth regarding our concepts and relationship with God. What does the Bible say about God, his capacity, his emotional states, and how he views me? A verse to keep coming back to like a magnet is Isaiah 26:3: You (God) will keep in perfect peace him (or her) whose mind is stayed (fixed) on You (God). Here are three truths about God we can fixate on instead of the negative:

1. God never sleeps. Psalm 121: 3,4 gives us this assurance: He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. Think about that – God never has or never will need to sleep. He doesn’t yawn, look at his watch, or get irritable late into the evening. Many years ago when I was a flight attendant, occasionally I would have to fly an “all-nighter”. The majority of passengers would sleep while the crew kept watch over everything. That is where I discovered the gift of coffee. Those trips would mess up my sleep for the next 2-3 days. God is always keeping watch 24/7. He is continually on universe wide all-nighters. And it doesn’t phase him one bit. Now that’s power!
2. God has no beginning or end. The Bible starts out with: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) The Bible ends with the book of Revelation which states: “I am the Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end.” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come – the Almighty One.” (Rev. 1: 8) This one hurts my head when I try to comprehend it. I totally understand God will live forever. And we can also live eternally with him if we believe in His Son Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Here’s the baffling part: God has no beginning. He has always been in existence. He wasn’t born at some time in history like we were. Just like the no sleeping point – now that’s power!
3. God’s number of thoughts about me are impossible to calculate. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand. (Psalm 139: 17-18) His thoughts about you and I outnumber the amount of sand at our favorite beach! And God isn’t speaking symbolically or exaggerating. The books of Hebrews and Titus tell us that “God cannot lie.” (Hebrews 6: 18) & (Titus 1: 2) This insight comes from the book The Awe of God by John Bevere:

We’re so valued, He thinks about us continuously. All the sand! Think of all the sand on earth – every beach, desert, and golf course. That’s an enormous amount! Science and math enthusiasts tell us that depending on the size and how tightly packed, there are approximately five hundred million to a billion granules of sand in one cubic square foot of beach. Our minds would struggle to comprehend the vast number of granules on just the Florida beaches. But think of it – if you add up all the granules of sand on the planet, you still wouldn’t have the number of thoughts God has about you! . . . Ask yourself this question: What do you predominately think of? You rarely think about something you don’t value. (pages 48 & 49)

These are just a few of His attributes. We serve a God who doesn’t sleep, is outside of human time and space, loves and cares about me more than I do myself. Shouldn’t we be able to trust him? Come to him with our problems and challenges? Feel a sense of worth and adequacy that we are enough?

Conclusion – God is love . . . Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. (1 John 4: 16 – 18) He’s not the old, cranky, frustrated man in the sky with a flowing beard who has an overbooked schedule. Pastor Jimmy Evans says, “The Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) never need to call an emergency session. They never say, ‘Boy – we didn’t see that one coming!'” God is the author of human history. As the old song goes – He truly does have the whole world in his hands.

Blessings,

Dave 🙂

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