“The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.” Psalm 111:7 (NIV)

I stood in front of the busted up walls amazed by all I never knew was behind them. Wires. Pipes. Support beams. Insulation. It all stood out now so very vulnerable and exposed. I ran my hand along the rough reality of renovation and thought how very similar my heart felt at the moment. The only difference was I knew my house would be put back together, better than ever.

I wasn’t so sure about my heart.

With the house, I knew a basic time frame. I also knew enough about renovations to add a few months of buffer time to the end date. Regardless, I absolutely knew there would be a beginning to this project and there would be an ending to this project. I also knew the end result would be beautiful. And since I knew the basic time frame and how beautiful things would eventually be, the busting up part of the renovation didn’t bother me. I was actually happy that demolition occurred.

The demolition was not a sign of irreparable problems. It was a sign of intentional progress. But I couldn’t say the same about the busted up places of my heart. Not right now. Not yet.

When I stood and looked in the mirror, my demolished heart wasn’t quite as easy to see as the walls in my house. The brokenness certainly revealed things, but they weren’t as easy to identify as pipes and wires. They were strange threads of fear, anxiety, shock, trauma, and distrust.

Distrust. There it was. The biggest of all the issues that resided beneath my surface. The ripping open and exposing of my heart had certainly revealed something I needed to see but didn’t dare want to admit.

About me. About God. And about my utter lack of trust in Him.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a Jesus girl through and through. I love studying His Word, doing the right and required things, following Him and fulfilling my calling. But when God starts to deviate from the plan I’m assuming my life should follow, I’m much more apt to want to tame God, not trust Him.

I want to demand the builder hand over the tools. And though I have no clue how to truly make things better, I start patching and covering and frantically fixating on a hodgepodge repair that will be disappointing at best, detrimental at worst.

And I wonder why I find myself so very exhausted and anxious and heavy burdened on the inside while singing and quoting verses about the abundant Christian life on the outside.

There is a disconnect somewhere between the faith I want and the one I’m living.

I know you feel it too. I’ve seen it in your tear-filled eyes and I’ve heard it in your questions around the harder things to understand about God.

So how do we rebuild our trust in God? Where do we even begin? I’ve found the best place to start is in His Word.

The truth of God’s trustworthy character is evident in every page of Scripture. We see evidence of this truth in the covenant promises God made to Abraham, Moses, and David and then kept. We see it in His faithfulness to provide for the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings — going before them in a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day, resting in the midst of their presence in the tabernacle, providing them manna to eat.

And there was one thing God did that outshines every other example of His trustworthy nature. God was faithful to the promise He made to Adam and Eve by crushing the head of the serpent as He sent His own Son to earth to die the death we should have died. Jesus reigns victorious over sin and death.

This is why the psalmist could truthfully declare in Psalm 111:7, “The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.”

The Hebrew word for trustworthy in this verse comes from the root word, אמן ( ́á·mân) and encapsulates loyalty and faithfulness. It tells of dependability, all characteristics that are true and evident in God. In one sentence the psalmist declared that all of God’s works are faithful and filled with justice; therefore, He is trustworthy.

This is how we stop resisting God’s ways. This is where we start finding a more grounded faith, renovated hearts, and a strengthened trust in God like never before. We look to His Word for the truth of His faithfulness. Because when we remember His faithfulness, we come to believe that because God is faithful, He can be trusted.

Father God, thank You for reminding me that I don’t have to have all of the answers. I just need to trust. Help me to fix my eyes on Your faithfulness. I’m loosening my grip and surrendering all of my life into Your loving and capable hands. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Are you exhausted trying to keep everything under control because you fear God won’t come through? Are you looking for a way to find relief from your unbelief?

Find a safe place to acknowledge your distrust and start taking steps to truly rely on the Lord with my new Bible Study on 1&2 Kings, Trustworthy: Overcoming Our Greatest Struggles to Trust God. It releases TODAY! And, for release day only, if you order your copy from Proverbs 31 Ministries, you’ll receive special bonus materials you can’t get anywhere else. Get your copy here!

“Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.” 1 Kings 18:29 (NIV)

Have you ever found yourself in a place of utter desperation? A season of life where you don’t understand why God won’t please just rain down some form of relief?

This is where we find God’s people in 1 Kings 18 — a passage of Scripture I’d love to look at together today. It opens with the Israelites longing for rain in the midst of a long season of drought.

That word “drought” stirs up such vivid images. Sun-scorched land that’s dry as dust. Fields once lush and green left brown, brittle and barren. Parched lips cracked and thirsting desperately for even the tiniest drop of relief.

And while we may not all be able to identify with a drought, most of us can probably testify to going through an incredibly dry season within. A drought of the soul.

It’s in those drought seasons when we can be tempted to turn to anyone or anything to satisfy the ravenous thirst of our aching soul. We want something or someone to bring us relief. To fill us up and make us feel whole. It’s as if we walk around carrying a little heart-shaped cup that we extend to whomever or whatever we perceive might fill it — friends, family, material possessions, achievements, goals.

But anything we turn to instead of God to satisfy us or to save us is an idol. It’s a false god.

Which brings us back to 1 Kings 18. This passage depicts a showdown of epic proportions between the prophet Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal — the false god they’d been worshipping instead of the one true God.

Elijah challenges the people of Israel to choose whom they will serve — God or Baal. In 1 Kings 18:21, Elijah tells the people they couldn’t keep wavering between two different opinions. The Hebrew word for “opinions” is se‘ip·pîm and can literally be translated as a “crutch, which is used to support a weak leg.” The idea here is that the Israelites found themselves limping between Baal and Yahweh. The only stability they would find was the solid foundation of God. The word in Psalm 119:113 translated as “double-minded” comes from the same root word as se‘ip·pîm: “I hate the double-minded, but I love your law” (ESV). Elijah was clearly letting the people know that the time of living on the fence was over. They had to determine whom they would worship.

When they say nothing in response, Elijah throws down the gauntlet to King Ahab and the prophets of Baal. Each side will build an altar, sacrifice a bull and call on their deity to rain down fire and consume the sacrifice. The deity who responds with fire is the one the people will accept as God.

The prophets of Baal go first. They prepare their altar. They shout. They dance. They even slash themselves until their blood flows. “But,” Scripture tells us, “there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention” (1 Kings 18:29b).

Reread that last sentence again.

There was no response. No one answered. No one even paid attention.

What’s so ironic is that Baal was known as “the god of the storm.” Yet … they heard no thunderous noise when they called on him. No booming response. Not even one drop of rain to ease the land or one spark of flame to ignite their offering. Instead, there was only silence.

Elijah then ups the stakes by having the altar of the Lord doused repeatedly in water in order to magnify the grandeur and supremacy of the God of Israel. Baal’s silence and inactivity sets the stage for the splendor of God.

Then God does what only He can do. He sends a consuming bolt of fire and dramatically devours the altar Elijah had prepared. The people of Israel repent, and the prophets of Baal are slaughtered. All because the one true God — our God — made Himself known that day.

Oh, friends. This passage holds such a strong warning for us. Especially when we find ourselves in a drought season, longing for relief — the reminder that no other god will do.

No person, possession, profession or pain-relieving substance will ever fill the cup of a wounded, empty heart — not my heart, not your heart. It’s an emptiness only God can fill.

Our God who responds. Our God who answers. Our God who always pays attention.

Father God, forgive me for the times I’ve turned to anyone or anything other than You for soul satisfaction. You and You alone are worthy of my worship and my praise. And so, I fix my eyes on You. Confessing I want You to be the One who reigns in my life. Asking You to rain down fresh hope on my heart. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Start finding relief from fear or doubt about how things will turn out with 10 scriptural truths you can declare over your situation in my new Bible Study on 1 & 2 Kings, Trustworthy: Overcoming Our Greatest Struggles to Trust God.

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