Psalm 37:3-4(ESV) is a favorite for a lot of us, and it is both instructive and comforting. These verses tell us to, “3 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Life is filled with ups and downs, and some of the downs can hit hard. Jesus Christ warned us in John 16:33 that there would be tribulations on this earth, but we can have peace because he has overcome the world, and he has shown us the way to do the same. Our trust must be firmly planted in God, because everything that we attempt to do in life is only possible because of Him.
We need God’s blessing. That is a simple statement, but it is one of the most dynamic truths of life. Many single people have been praying to cross paths with their future spouses, but they still have it in their heads that there are certain aspects of this quest they can take care of on their own. This kind of thinking, no matter how small, will interfere with faith. In Romans 4:21, God tells us that Abraham, the Father of our Believing, was fully persuaded that what God has promised, He was also able to perform. This is the kind of faith and trust that God is looking for in us.
Some of us hold to a certain posture before the man comes. We say that we’re going to be fully committed to God and conduct ourselves in the relationship with holiness. The reality in some cases is that when a man that looks promising finally arrives, we throw that posture of holiness out the window. Some of us are convinced that we can follow through, but faced with the reality, we’re like putty in the man’s hands. God doesn’t punish us for this, but we need to understand that our trust in Him and our desire to do good will lay the foundation for the success of our future marriage.
God tells us in Jeremiah 17:7-8(NLT), “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” The truth that God has revealed in this passage prompts us to envision outcomes in the future from the perspective of where we’re planted today. If we’re planted on a footpath where we can be trampled and stepped on, Jesus Christ teaches in Luke 12 that the devil will come and take the Word away from our hearts and prevent us from being fully persuaded in God.
This has happened to many of us in our past relationships. We knew the Word. We knew the things that God told us not to do, but we did those things any way. Our weaknesses were used by the enemy to bamboozle us into relationships with men who hurt and abandoned us. In truth, some of those relationships might have made it, but because we demonstrated a willingness to put the needs of the man over the requirements of God, the devil stole it from us. If you understand that the wrong actions provide an opening for the thief to steal, do you not also understand that if you do the same thing again, you’ll get the same result?
We’re so willing to invest our trust in an individual before demonstrating an unwavering trust in God. We need to be like a tree that is planted by the river, a tree with roots that are continually nourished by God’s Word. Our Heavenly Father is the One that blesses us, and He doesn’t need any help in the blessing business. Only He has the power to elevate and promote, and Psalm 37:4 tells us that the path to His blessings is revealed as we delight ourselves in Him.
God is not withholding the blessing of marriage from any of us. He loves us, and He wants us to lean on Him regarding every aspect of our quest to be married. We must acknowledge that marriage is a spiritual union that He established for His most perfect purpose. Ephesians 1:11-12(ESV) tells us, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” Please allow this tremendous truth to sink deep in your heart. GOD works all things out according to the exact blueprint of His perfect Will.
We must lean on Him and Him alone. Do not trust your future to a man that God didn’t send. Our unions are a part of His Will. There’s a blessed life that He has ordained you to impact in a huge way. You must trust God and understand that your husband is not a product of some random selection. He is not someone that God would have you try on for size. Somewhere deep inside this man, God has connected you to him. He’s part of your destiny in Christ. Your hands must be off this. God is handling all the details, and you must remain prayerful, patient, faith-filled, and obedient, because this is His Will.■
English Standard Version (ESV), The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Trust in God before Anyone Else”, written by Kim Times, edited by Fran Mack and K. Stephens for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!