Thought for Today: “Stop Trying to Control”

The word “trust” in Hebrew literally means, “to lean with the whole body” or “to rest one’s full weight” upon something. The word picture carries the idea of stretching ourselves out upon a bed or sitting down in a chair with full confidence that we’ll not be let down. To trust is to put our full weight on something.

To trust in the Lord is to rest our full weight, everything we’ve got upon Him. And to trust in the Lord with all our hearts is to trust God with the whole of who we are ­with all our feelings, thoughts, and decisions.

The Bible tells us, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save” (Psalm 146:3), but rather, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man” (Psalm 118:8).

Dwight L. Moody said, “Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment. Trust in your friends and they will die and leave you. Trust in money and you may have it taken from you. Trust in your reputation and some slanderous tongue may blast it. But trust in God and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity.”

To trust the Lord then means to lean the whole of who we are and our understanding upon the Lord, and that is to stop trying to be in control all the time.