Charles R. Swindoll - Perfect Trust

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Perfect
Trust

Ears to Hear, Hearts to Trust,
and Minds to Rest in Him

CHARLES R. SWINDOLL

Copyright 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.

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Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1977, 1995, and are used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are from the REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible. 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION. 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by Permission.

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Contents

W e take a look at the money in our pockets and it says, In God we trust. Trust Him to do what? Keep us free from invasion? Make us prosperous? Sustain our position of world power and leadership? Revolutionary War soldiers used to say, Trust in God but keep your powder dry. Yet as a nation today we are much more self-reliant (keeping our powder dry) than we are God-reliant (trusting in Him).

Heres a direct question: Can you trust God? There are two ways to look at that question. Can you trust God? That is, is He dependable in times of need? Will He do what He says? Or, secondly, we might ask, Can you trust God? Do you have such a relationship with Him and such confidence in Him that you believe He is with you always even though you do not see any evidence of His presence and His power?

It isnt easy to trust God in times of adversity. Feelings of distress, despair, and darkness trouble our souls as we wonder if God truly cares about our plight. But not to trust Him is to doubt His sovereignty and to question His goodness. In order to trust God we must view our adverse circumstances through eyes of faith, not our senses. And just as the faith of salvation comes through hearing the message of the gospel (Romans 10:17), so the faith to trust God in adversity comes through the Word of God alone. It is only in the Scriptures that we find an adequate view of Gods relationship to and involvement in our painful circumstances. It is only through Scripture, applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that we receive the grace to trust God in everything.

That is why I have made Scripture the basis of this book. My hope is that by examining the characteristics of God and reviewing His trustworthiness in the lives of ordinary men and women, we will be inspired to trust Him more fully ourselves. I want you to find rest from the weariness of worry and the plagues of doubt and fear. I want us to be a distinctive peoplepeople who step out in faith even when the future is fuzzy, people whose lives reflect a quiet peace and calm assurance because we have cultivated perfect trust in God.

That kind of trust frees us to become the distinctive people God is calling us to be. The kind of Christian A. W. Tozer describes like this:

He feels supreme love for

One hes never seen.

He talks familiarly every day to

Someone he cannot see.

He expects to go to heaven on

the virtue of Another.

He empties himself in order to be full.

He admits he is wrong so he

can be declared right.

He goes down in order to get up.

He is strongest when he is weakest,

richest when he is poorest,

happiest when he feels the worst.

He dies so he can live.

He forsakes in order to have.

He gives away so he can keep.

He sees the invisible.

He hears the inaudible.

He knows that which passes understanding.

My prayer is that this little book will help you to trust God not only in the pit of dire circumstances but also on the pinnacle of abundance and success.

Chuck Swindoll
January 2000

G od is never at a loss to know what Hes going to do in our situations. He knows perfectly well what is best for us. Our problem is, we dont know.

T here is no impossible situation that God cannot handle. He wont handle it necessarily your way, but Hell handle it.

Give Me a
Heart to Trust

Give Me a
Heart to Trust

I cant think of anyone more suitable to inspire our trust in God than the psalmist David. He was hunted, haunted, and hounded by his enemies even though God had promised him a future of leadership. He was the anointed king-elect, but Saul was still on the throne. David inspires us because we read of his trust in God during those years of relentless adversity. In Psalm 4:3 he said, Know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him. He was so sure of God that he later added, In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety (v.8).

When the Philistines seized David in Gath, he said, When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me? (Psalm 56:34). When he fled from Saul into a cave, David cried out to God: Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by (Psalm 57:1).

Many, many years ago, Felix of Nola was escaping his enemies, and he, too, took temporary refuge in a cave. He had scarcely entered the opening of the cave before a spider began to weave its web across the small opening. With remarkable speed, the insect completely sealed off the mouth of the cave with an intricate web, giving the appearance that the cave had not been entered for many weeks. As Felixs pursuers passed by, they saw the web and didnt even bother to look inside. Later, as the godly fugitive stepped out into the sunlight, he uttered these insightful words: Where God is, a spiders web is a wall; where He is not, a wall is but a spiders web.