“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” – James 1:22
One of the most amazing things to me is when God illuminates a verse and gives understanding and application to me personally.
James 1:22 is a verse I’ve heard so often throughout my Christian life. In fact, I was fairly confident that I knew the meaning of this verse, and I also thought I was a fairly decent “doer”. I serve in a couple of my church’s ministries; I read my Bible often; I pray a lot, and I try to share the love of Jesus to others… isn’t that what a “doer” does? Well, that’s what I thought… until the Lord opened my eyes to the “doer” in me. Don’t get me wrong… serving the Lord is very important, and I love the opportunities He gives me to do so, but the Lord really spoke to my heart today about a specific area in my life where I was a pretty poor “doer”.
I was praying about another issue that had been frustrating me in my attempts to “manage” it (aka “control”), when the Holy Spirit brought to my mind the first part of Proverbs 3:5, which states, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart…” I thought to myself, “Yes, I trust you, Lord.” He replied, “No, not really.” (Of course, I don’t mean He spoke to me in an audible voice, but He spoke to my heart as only He can do.) The Lord revealed to me that I was a “hearer” of Proverbs 3:5, but not a “doer”. He was pointing out that I trusted Him in my head, but not in my heart; I depended on my abilities before His. That’s not the way a “doer” behaves when it comes to trusting God.
If you’re like me, having these kinds of moments of illumination from the Lord are not the ones I enjoy the most, but they are often the most necessary to deepen my faith and my relationship with Him. So as I thought about this particular concept, I realized that when I turn to God, trusting Him to help me, it’s usually when I’ve failed to handle a situation to my satisfaction or something is totally out of my control to begin with. In fact, in retrospect, I find that when I try to control those things and can’t, I get frustrating, fearful, despondent, etc. That’s when I finally turn to God and trust Him. Ouch! The awareness that I was merely a “hearer” of the Word when it came to trusting the Lord shamed me.
I don’t want to deceive myself by believing I am something I am not, so now that the Spirit has opened my eyes to me being a “trust-in-God hearer” most of the time, I am working to become a “doer” all of the time, and will strive to place my trust where it first should be… in the Lord! It’s going to take some time, I’m sure, because I am one who wants to be in control of my life and the situations I face, but I know that God has revealed this to me to help me learn to put my trust in Him above all others, especially myself. (I take a deep breath here because I know that often means a time of testing may be around the corner for me, but I am also praying for His strength, and that like Job said in chapter 23 of the book that bears his name, when I am tried and tested, I hope I will come forth as gold.)
When I really think about it, it is quite ridiculous to think that I can actually handle all that life throws my way myself. My past clearly shouts, “Who are you kidding? Go to God first!!!” So now, that is what I intend to do!
Simply trusting every day, trusting through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus, that is all.
Trusting as the moments fly, trusting as the days go by;
Trusting Him whate’er befall, trusting Jesus, that is all.
(from “Trusting Jesus” by Edgar Page)
“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” – Psalm 118:8
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It is so humbling to know that the Creator of the universe loves and cares about me so much, that He takes the time to open my eyes to His Word, teaching me to know Him and trust Him better! Oh, what a Saviour!