Trusting the Unseen
February 4, 2024
Dr. Paul Cannings
Satan is a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:9), so he tends to make a lot of noise. This tends to create anxiety and frustration, and sometimes, we may even feel that the Lord is silent, so He must not care. This can cause our trust in God to vacillate. This is not the case with many circumstances we may encounter. We believe in many things because we can see them. Here are some examples: We may go on a cruise, and the size of the ship, the lack of a storm, and the comfort we may experience may cause us to relax and sleep all night. When we fly on a plane, the lack of recent plane crashes may cause us to relax or even take a nap. We may believe that we have a stable job, so as a result, we get into debt, even long-term debt for cars, houses, etc. All these actions are because we have learned to trust in what is happening around us.
The common thread is that we can see everything we place our trust in without realizing that there are many things we cannot see. A storm can rise at sea, a door can blow out on a plane, and the stock market can crash. While we are driving, someone can hit us. So, the things we can see have many variables that we may not see.
There are many things we can see that God provides us. Here are some examples: We walk on His earth that He sustains in space; we eat His food and gain gas, tires, and wood for houses because of His provisions. We know that He is always good because these provisions are provided every day whether we earn it or not (even when circumstances are bad; Romans 8:28). We know He cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18) because we see much of His Word come true (Hebrews 1:1-3). We know He loves us because He forgives us and protects us each day. This is a short list of all we can see that He does each day (Colossians 1:15-18).
What keeps us trusting many times is that we are engaged in the journey on the cruise, working to do a good job at work, and driving to get where we are going. Because we are on the journey, we end up believing in what we cannot see.
God does not have to shout loud because He has already spoken through His Word (2 Peter 1:3-4) that He knows is powerful (Hebrews 12:4), will not return void (Isaiah 55:11) and the Holy Spirit will illuminate it (1 Corinthians 2:10-15) for us so that He can guide us into all truth (John 16:13). Just like we do for everything else, we need to focus on the journey because there is no way He can fail us.
When satan is loud, instead of focusing on his roar, we must turn our hearts to He who is within us (1 John 4:4).