By William Collier, Publisher
Originally published June 13, 2025 for our Mid-Month Issue of Mindful Intelligence Advisor. Subscribe to get semi-monthly issues.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” – Proverbs 3:5-8
- NOTE: Here is a special editor’s commentary from our publisher, Bill Collier, about what it means to trust God, a challenge for many during these trying times, and yet a source of comfort in the midst of chaos for many others.
Trust in God.
It’s so easily said. It just rolls out of your voice, almost as predictable as the tide.
But do we trust God?
I have been experiencing something like I haven’t experienced since I was maybe 10 years old. This “feeling” had been dormant in me for years, though I only realized it recently. It was a specific and unique feeling of joy/peace and quiet certainty that if I but stewarded my life and actions with honor to God as the driving energy behind that, God would take care of an outcome that serves my eternal good, even if suffering and loss in this life are needed to shape me into who He wants me to become.
Of course, I’m paraphrasing here; the kid version of me would have used much different language. Still, looking back, I realize, in essence, this is what I was really thinking in that incredible moment of joy/peace.
I do trust God, overall, but I have not been living in that joy/peace I experienced back then. I have not experienced the trust in God that gives you the REST within, replaces anxiety with peace, and gives a heart thankfulness, filled with the simple joy of following and knowing Jesus Christ.
Of course, this was not a deliberate choice, to kill this joy/peace within me, and it didn’t happen overnight. It was a gradual ebbing out of the spirit of peace as I struggled to finitely figure out for myself how to essentially save myself.
I trust God. I trust the outcomes. I trust when I am merely suffering the consequences of my own failing or mistake, knowing He has grace and mercy and that whatever is resetting me, if I give it to Him, He will transform me as I seek to obey Him until I can put those traits or flaws behind me.
I trust when I suffer for something that was not true, something that was a total lie (yet is laid at my charge), that God’s provision will give me exactly what I need to fulfill His purpose and intentions for my life.
I trust Him when the outcomes are good and bring joyful results, success, and prosperity. But I also trust Him when it seems that in every direction, there is bad news and failures.
I trust when I have more than I need or when I am totally lacking and overwhelmed by the needs I cannot at present meet.
I trust in Jesus Christ to shape and utilize me through this life experience to be prepared for my eternal destiny and to fulfill His scroll of destiny and purpose for me in this life as well.
I rest in that trust.
When anxiety comes because I want an outcome, fear an outcome, or am just confused and uncertain how to proceed, I just focus my heart and mind on the fact God oversees my life BECAUSE I have surrendered to Him. While I need to be a good steward through my worship of Him, He truly is in total control of my outcomes, and I surrender that to Him.
Being a good steward means you take responsibility for your actions, and you utilize all God has given you according to His design, His blueprint, and His purpose, to the best of your understanding and through the means God has given you.
Even if you fumble your stewardship in some way, seeking God and trusting that He will always control your outcomes for your eternal good, allows you to recover and be transformed until you no longer fumble in that manner.
Trust comes as we obey, and as we learn and grow through knowledge and experience over time, we become ever more attuned to God’s voice, understanding of God’s Word, and surrounded by wise Christian counsel through fellowship, and thus, we suffer less for our mistakes.
When we do suffer, it is not necessarily because we made a mistake or a bad choice, but we trust it serves God’s purpose.
As we learn to trust in bad times, we also learn to trust in good times. When riches increase, we do not set our hearts upon those riches. When we are praised and honored, we acknowledge our honor comes from God and goes back to God. When we no longer have the urgency of needing to retreat within ourselves to the Presence of God, we remember this need to abide under His shadow during good times as well, lest we become tempted by our own sense of well-being and our pride.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” –Romans 8:35-39
I survey the unresolved problems I do not know how I will overcome, but yet, even here, I trust in God. I can see that when I lacked the ability, resources, or knowledge to solve a problem, it becomes resolved through God’s provision and/or guidance in sudden, unexpected ways.
Deus Ex Machina isn’t just a dramatic device, it’s real. I can attest to this fact, even through my marriage (maybe even especially through it).
I consider all the impossible things and trying things and what I must face or do that will be hard or have uncertain outcomes, and I yet trust in God. In suffering, the fellowship of His suffering is a place of honor. In happy prosperity, victory, and abundance, I guard my heart but revel in a thankful heart toward God for all He has done.
When I have abundance, I enjoy and take pleasure in distributing the benefits of living for Jesus and of His Kingdom to others. When I lack, I trust in Him and endure knowing these outcomes too serve God’s eternal purpose for my life, and I bear up, seeking counsel in the Word, the meditations of my heart, and the support and encouragement of my circles of family, friends, and fellow saints.
I say these things as a statement of faith, for I am not different than most in that I do not always do these things. But as I am learning to do these things more, I am experiencing more trust and more peace, and therefore more joy. Even in the midst of great blessings (and I have had plenty of those lately as well), I set not my heart upon them but stay in a place of seeking the JOY of HIS Presence.
It is easy for success to make you confident in your own false self-salvation powers; even great Kings of Israel fell to such snares. Remember Joash? He was the King who was saved from the only Queen of Judah, Athaliah, by Jehoiada the Priest.
She had murdered all the male descendants of Judah, save one (Joash), so she could take power for herself. Jehoiada protected the child Joash and worked to finally get him restored to the throne. He saved his life and his Kingship. These blessings were through God.
Under Jehoiada’s guidance, Joash was a righteous King, and his Kingdom prospered. After Jehoida died, Joash let men satisfy his ego, and he turned away from the Lord, ending his days by killing Jehoida’s son, Zechariah, for challenging his unrighteous ways (2 Chronicles 24).
I sense that old pure, innocent, and unquestioning faith in Jesus Christ in its joy and peace is growing anew, at a deep level to where I feel more fearless and overcoming, without fretting over results which, ultimately, I must acknowledge are in God’s hands. That is JUST where I WANT them to be. This means I surrender my expectations or desires as to outcomes, not that I don’t make my requests known or seek to be a good steward and work toward goals.
This isn’t laziness or pacifism. We bear stewardship responsibility for our actions; this includes how we manage and use everything God gives into our hands (stewardship).
Yet God knows we are a work in progress and ultimately, if we let Him, if we TRUST in Him and HIS ways, HIS timing, He will control the outcome for our eternal good. That is rock solid, and the more you live in that, the better your decision-making abilities will become, and the more peace and joy you will experience.
“At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’” –Matthew 11:25-30
