I can't stop thinking about trust as an action...probably because I'm walking through this in my own life right now! Am I the only one?

So often people tell us to “trust God” but what they are really saying is “wait”. Waiting is often necessary, but…like…how long do we wait? How do we know our waiting is over?

David was one of the most famous kings in the Bible, and yet he had to wait before he was allowed to take the throne. So much of his life was spent waiting...trusting…waiting… It was several long years and many near-brushes with death before he finally slipped on that crown and became the king he was destined to be. But in that time, God formed his character. Waiting can be good!

But sometimes we hear people tell us to wait, and yet God is telling us to make the move.

I came across the story of Zelophehad’s Daughters in Numbers 27:1-11 and admired their bravery. In a time when women didn’t own property or have much say in legal matters, their father died leaving no heir to their portion of the land. They had no brothers to inherit and it was unheard of for a woman to do so.

And yet they trusted God.

Now, if you are unfamiliar with this story, you may assume that by trusting God, they just sat in their tent waiting for a knight in shining armor to come along and rescue them. But no…they took their trust and put it into action! Numbers 27:2 says “They approached the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders of the whole assembly, and…” they went on to explain their situation in an unprecedented act of courage & conviction. They didn’t manipulate, plead or cry. They simply made their request known. “Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.” (v.4)

This one act changed history. Verse 5-7 says, “So Moses brought their case before the Lord and the Lord said to him, ‘What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and turn their father’s inheritance over to them.’” From there, the Lord continued to give further instructions and these five young women’s names went on to be written in the Bible for future generations to see & hear.

I could give many more examples of people whose trust resulted in action (Esther, Ruth, Elisha, and on and on) but we could be here all day! When it comes down to it, what we need in addition to trust is discernment: the wisdom to know when to wait and when to move. But one thing we can be sure of in the meantime is that the Lord will not forsake us as we seek Him (Psalm 9:9-10)!

#trust #faith #calling