(June 30, 2023) With concern Robert and Maureen McQuillan ask…

Question: ‘Which four words should be remembered if we’re doubting God’s word?’ Genesis 3:1!

Here’s how various Bible versions read about Eve being deceived about God’s word… and that fruit (whatever kind it was!)–

• GNB – ‘Did God really tell you…?’
• Mge – ‘Do I understand that God told you…?’
• NET – ‘Is it really true that God said…?’
• NIV – ‘Did God really say…?’
• TLB expands a little – ‘Really?… None of the fruit…? God says you mustn’t eat any of it?’ 

Subtle challenge
Eden’s wily serpent represents that most cunning, subtle Satan. ‘Serpent’ is nachash, hissingly pronounced naw-khawash after a snake’s ‘hiss.’

Picture that crafty devil (KJV version) hissingly enquiring – ‘Yea, hath God said?’ (Hiss those words when you read them!). That old fashioned word ‘Yea’ is the Hebrew kee, indicating an ever so casual comment. Satan casually hissed, ‘Did God really tell you that you would die?’

His verse 4 big lie – ‘You won’t die!’ is hissed in mock derision of God’s warning and Fatherly command!

Deceiver!
‘Die’ – muth – doesn’t always refer to immediate death but a definite ‘You are now doomed to die.’ No wonder Jesus declared that Satan has always been a liar (John 4:44).

Adam and Eve could have lived forever in God’s created Paradise (Genesis 3:22)! Now they’re doomed to die at some point. Human lifespan was shortened and shortened… to live beyond 80 years was (is) a blessing! Not being morbid… but think about your remaining years and live them trusting God and with enjoyment live for Jesus!

Disobeying God’s command as Eve did (and Adam too, guys!) is sinning leading to death, as Romans 6:23 NLT declares: ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus…’ What a gift we have from our loving heavenly Father!

Always trust God and His word
What are we getting at here? Two major troubling issues with many Christians…
(i) Doubting God and His word.
(ii) Not totally trusting Him!

Remember Daniel 3… three young men had refused the king’s order to bow before a false God and were threatened with being cast into a stoked-up blazing furnace! Terrifying! (And you thought you had problems!)

Yet their defiant declaration to the king was that they believed their God would rescue them. An incredible declaration! More amazing is that their trust in their God was so strong that they boldly further added: ‘Even if He doesn’t, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference’ (v18Mge)!

God did rescue them! The astounded king declared, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He… rescued His servants who trusted in Him! They ignored [my] orders… laid their bodies on the line rather than serve or worship any god but their own’ (v28Mge).

Note that very important word… ‘trusted.’ Those boys risked their lives in trusting God! What a testimony to those who don’t know God… or Christians who don’t fully trust Him!

• Reality: God is a rescuer – if we’ll trust Him! Trusting God releases Him into action!

Do you really know and trust God?
World news is repeatedly bad news! That old saying: ‘Things are black at the coalface.’

Churches – Christians – are meant to be the centre of hope for the world. Why? Because we are supposed to know and trust the Saviour of this troubled world.

But bad news… unfortunately things are also black at the church coalface because many Christians haven’t got our act together!

Sadly, some churches and Christians have several major in-house problems –

• Jesus not being lifted high!
• False teaching.
• Over-the-top financial demands!
• Pastors not fulfilling shepherding roles.
• Great commission not followed through.
• Christians dropping personal Bible reading.
• Lacking personal spiritual growth.
• Not really knowing God.
• Holy Spirit ignorance.
• Doubt, deception and fear.
• Real-life challenges!

Sadly many Christians haven’t been like Daniel’s friends – letting go and letting God!

Reality
We live in a fallen world… bad things happen to good people too; the balance is found in Hebrews 13:5Mge, ‘Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you.”’ Wow!

This means we’ve got to hang in there! If we declare God is our good God… let’s know it. Because in the tragedies of life this is where the rubber hits the road!

Proverbs 3:5 is one of Maureen’s favourite scriptures should be grasped these days! The Message version is so clear: ‘Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.’

A demanding maxim to be lived by is: ‘Let go and let God!’ But will we? Have we learned to really trust our God?

Trusting means leaving it with God
Some Christians have a bad habit… the ‘Gimme Doctrine.’ It operates like this: ‘Only you can help me, Lord, I trust you. I give this problem to you.’ Then we foolishly grab it back as if we can help God when we can’t even help ourselves!

In asking our doctor’s help regarding something strange troubling me (Robert) presently, we’re fully trusting him, not going to be taking it back from him every two minutes!

We know and trust him… as we do God! Backed with scripture-based prayer, we’ve handed everything over to our doctor expecting great results – in his timing, and in his way! It’s the same too with believing God … we should exercise faith that God will never let us down! And be patient regarding results, leaving it all with Him.

Maureen puts trusting Jesus this way: ‘If I ask someone to bake me a cake, I completely trust her to do so and to bake it well. I won’t be hanging over her shoulder all the time or saying, “Here, give me that spoon!” If I didn’t trust her, I wouldn’t have asked in the first place. So… as she does what needs doing, I’m off doing other things, all the time expecting a great result.’

We remind readers that God is greater than any human: He will never fail us, we can fully trust him! That’s our part… trusting him. In a nutshell, trust is having confidence in God!

Remember David… he knew his God and trusted Him. Yet David had many problems! Jealous brothers, spitefulSaul, enemies outside and inside the camp, his own lustfulness, plotting son, in time old age. Still God called David ‘a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him‘ (Acts 13:22Mge).

Can we echo David’s declaration of Psalm 31:14, ‘But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.”’

God yearns that we trust Him!
An appropriate scripture is Psalm 78:7BSB, ‘that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments.’

Many times in the Old Testament one hears God’s heartcry to His wayward people – ‘Why don’t you listen to me, do what I ask? I have so much planned for you… trust me!’

In these troubled times we need to know and believe scriptures like Isaiah 26:3, ‘You will keep in perfect peace these whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.’

Even the best human can let us down. We need to hang onto scriptures such as Psalm 56:3-4, ‘When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise – in God I trust and am not afraid.’

Let go and let God!
Humans can let us down. But almighty God has promised never to let us down, therefore in all of life’s challenges, we can declare, ‘So what if things work out differently what I hoping or asking for?’

We’ve ourselves have had to trust God over the years; we’ve had to take some huge steps of faith and trust… and patiently wait to see how things would work out. It hasn’t always been easy… sometimes things didn’t go as expected and we had to really hang in there.

The challenge for many Christians today is this: Do we really know our God, do we really believe He is our rescuer and above all, do we really trust Him? The sad reality is many don’t… and the enemy deceives!

Jesus’ major request
Jesus told His disciples that He’d send another friend, the Holy Spirit so that they wouldn’t be orphans – orphanos… comfortless, fatherless (John14:18).

But they were fighting among themselves! So he challenged them, ‘You trust God, don’t you? Trust me’ (v1Mge).

Do you really trust Jesus? So many Christians have a problem with trusting Him and His word. They religiously think that they have to have heaps of faith!

Trusting Jesus isn’t through a pharisaic law-burdened religion, but through a personal law-covered relationship with Him, andbeing under the Holy Spirit’s guidance! (See Roman 8:1-5).

Christianity is meant to be an open, precious, personal relationship with God through Jesus. Through personally knowing the Holy Spirit. Sadly for many it’s religious not relational!

‘Trust’ simply means ‘to rely on.’ Putting yourself into someone’s protection… in our case, God. Yet many Christians lack this intimacy! Christianity is meant to be an open, precious, trusting personal relationship with God through Jesus.

Learning from babes!
In regard to trusting the Father, we can even learn from kids! ‘From the mouths of children and babes…’ Jesus said in Matthew 21:16.

While ministering Kangaroo Island one time, the pastor took us for a walk along the beach. At one point he lifted his kids up onto a high rock and said to one, ‘Let’s play Catch. Jump… I’ll catch you.’ She did and loved it as her dad caught her and hugged tightly.

I (Robert) told the other that I’d do the same and with a warm smile, held out my arms. But she wouldn’t budge, no matter how many times I tried to persuade her… just kept shaking her head. Finally I said, ‘Come on… trust me. I won’t let you down. Like your daddy, I’ll catch you.’

That’s when that I learned a deep lesson from this innocent little child. Shaking her blond head she said quietly, ‘But you’re not my daddy.’ Hmm? Get it? That little girl knew that she could fully trust her dad!

Can we fully trust our heavenly Dad?

Trusting means letting go!
A guy falls off a cliff, hanging onto the edge. Panicking, he calls out loudly to anyone at the top: ‘Help! Is anyone there?’

No response, so he calls out to God. He hears a voice: ‘God here. Just let go and I’ll catch you.’ But he can’t see anyone. ‘Is that really you, God?’ ‘Yes. You asked for help and I’m giving it to you. Just let go and trust me.’ The guy looks down below, considers having to let go. After a few minutes’ silence, he calls out weakly: ‘Help! Is there anyone else there?’

Yes, sometimes when God asks us to trust Him, He responds in unusual ways. The question is: ‘Although we can’t see Him, do we really know Him? Are we willing to fully trust Him in every circumstance?’

It’s easy to trust someone when you can see them but of course, we can’t ‘see’ God. We have to be positive and know that we know that we know He’s there! When flying, we automatically trust that the pilot is up front… can’t see him but just believe he’s there, that he knows what he’s doing.

In John 20:29Mge, Jesus said to ‘Doubting’ Thomas, ‘So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.’ That’s for us!

Challenge
Are you burdened but don’t know Jesus as Saviour and trustworthy friend? If so, we invite you to accept Him as such.

Christians… what’s your level of trusting Jesus? Do you really know God whom we can’t see physically but can sense His love and presence? Is He really Lord of everything – or just some things?

To know the reality of that oft-quoted Jeremiah 29:11, we must trust God completely!

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Dr Robert and Maureen McQuillan’s links: OnlinerConnect@gmail.com and Facebook / Facing Giant Problems
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