Psalm 62:8 “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.”

Psalm 73:28 “But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit puzzled that, at times, I find it easy to trust the Lord about certain things, while at other times I’m extremely reluctant to simply rest in the goodness of God and trust Him with every detail of my life. I know in the depths of my spirit that God is not only trustworthy, but that He is all-powerful, and well able to meet all my needs. And yet at times, fear, reserve and reluctance plague my heart. I’m not saying that’s right, but that it’s sometimes the way it is. However, the Word of God still commands us to, “Trust in him at all times” (Ps. 62:8a).

Might I suggest that often we become confused by wanting to “feel” trust toward the Lord rather than “choosing” to trust Him. If we wait for some euphoric feeling to verify that we are trusting the Lord, we may never learn to exercise our faith in Him. The fact is that we must choose to trust our loving heavenly Father whether we feel anything or not. Our “faith” in God is often sacrificed on the altar of our “feelings.” As Christians, we must never consult with our “feelings” about the status of our “faith.” We must be willing to place all that concerns us into His hands without reservation.

The story is told of a beggar in India who sat by the roadside begging alms. As he held out his bowl, people passing by dropped a few grains of rice into it. This was his means of providing food for himself. Occasionally someone dropped a coin into his hand. One day he saw a procession coming down the road. “This is good,” he thought. “It looks as if a prince is approaching. Surely he will give me a gold coin today.”

It was indeed a prince, and he stopped beside the beggar, who held out his bowl and waited eagerly to see what his royal benefactor would drop into it. To his surprise, the prince asked, “Will you please give me your rice?”

“I can’t do that,” the beggar answered. “It is all I have.”

Again the prince said, “I want your rice.”

“No, I can’t give you my rice. It is all I have to eat,” was the firm reply.

The prince made a third request for the rice. Slowly the beggar took three grains of rice out of his bowl and put them into the hand of the prince, who then reached into a bag hanging at his belt and took out three nuggets of gold which he dropped into the bowl.

As the beggar looked at them he thought regretfully, “Oh, why didn’t I turn my bowl upside down in his hand?” 1

The old hymn, “I Surrender All” makes my point very well:

“All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.
Chorus: I surrender all, I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.” 2

Why not surrender all that you have and hold to Jesus today? Your life will be far more secure in His hands than it ever could be in your own. This was the belief of Paul the Apostle, who said, “…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12b).

Give it all to Jesus. You’ll come out ahead.

1Mildred Stamm, Meditation Moments, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Corporation, 1967), Devotion for March 25.
2“I Surrender All,” J.W. Van DeVenter.