Looking to others is not something we necessarily set out to do. Most of us are aware that God is control and it’s really all up to Him, not them, right?
Life happens and somehow if we are not careful, it sneaks up on us. Someone brags on us or believes in us and before we know it we begin to get sucked into that weird place of putting our trust in what they say, in what they can make happen on our behalf or the help they say they can offer us.
If we are not careful our expectations of people grow and when they cannot live up to ALL of OUR expectations – we are devastated. These are too heavy of weights for any human to have placed on them. People are not meant to be looked to as our main source of affirmation or help – God is.
Only God can fulfill the desires of our hearts in His perfect timing and place, with the right people surrounding us, when he knows our heart and character can handle the blessings he has in store for us. Truth is, you and I would not really want it at all prior to His timing, as we would fail miserably and crash hard.
We can fall prey to others opinions of us good or bad and become fearful of people who have wrong intentions towards us like the children of Israel did. God’s people feared Babylon more than God. They had reason to fear Babylon, but they were looking in the wrong direction. God’s power is much greater than our greatest enemy.
“I, even I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear? Yet you have forgotten the Lord, your Creator, the one who put the stars in the sky and established the earth. Will you remain in constant dread of human oppression (Isaiah 51:12)?”
God will use people to guide us, help us and bless us, but never misunderstand God’s intent. He does not use people because he needs people or so you and I can place our faith in people. He uses imperfect people to illustrate the kind of relationship he wants with all people and to show us his power, so that He will get the glory alone.
People will fail you, God will not! People will make promises and not keep them. God will not!
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“I will give thanks to your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness, because your promises are backed by all the honor of your name (Psalms 138:2).”
It’s never about “they or others” or how they have hurt us or helped us. God orchestrates divine appointments. He uses people to accomplish his will, but we should never look to those people as our answer or as our problem. God even uses those who do not serve him to accomplish what he has set out to do. God is God and he will do what he pleases with or without others or us (Psalms 115:3 & 135:6).
Our job is to keep our eyes fixed and focused in faith on Jesus. “And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish (Hebrews 12:1-2).”
Get close enough and stay long enough in the presence of “others” and they will let you down in some way. There will be times they will not follow through. They will say hurtful things. They will confuse us. They will make us angry. They will cause us to wonder why we open up and trust anyone at all. That’s ok.
We are commanded to love others, we are not commanded to trust others. Those are two different things. God loved us while we were yet sinners. We were not trustworthy and there are times we still can’t be trusted – we all make mistakes. Trust God my sweet friends, He will never let you down even when it looks and feels like he has!
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).”
Of course we have people in our lives that we count on, and we should. We were made for community and relationship. However, they are not perfect and neither are we. Even the closest people to us will fail us from time to time no matter how trustworthy they are. Let us show grace and mercy to one another just as our Father in Heaven shows us graces and mercy to us.
“We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us (Philippians 3:3).”
There was an old man named Simeon and the Bible says in Luke 2:25-27, “He was a righteous man and very devout. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he eagerly expected the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, “Lord, now I can die in peace! As you promised me, I have seen the Savior . . . ”
God keeps his promises! He kept his promise to an elderly man named Simeon who was only mentioned once in the Bible and he will keep his promises to you and I.
What are you waiting on? What are you expecting? God knows. He’s already orchestrated every detail. He’s got your back my friend! “For the Lord will go ahead of you, and the God of Israel will protect you from behind (Hebrews 52:12).” He will keep His promises to you!
If you have given your life fully to God, if you are serving him to the best of your ability, and following his ways and his leading – he will put you where you need to be, when you need to be there, for what you need to be there for. He will provide!
Astonishing enough as it is, God does this even when we are not serving him. He knows what it will take to turn our hearts towards him. We still have the final choice, but God is always reaching out in love to us.
So I am nudging you, like God keeps nudging me, to continue shifting my eyes back to Him and Him alone. Love people and keep your eyes on Jesus.
Here are three things that can happen if we keep our eyes on Jesus and trust Him with out situations and with the people in our lives:
- it lessons the pressure and expectations we place on others,
- it frees us to forgive a little faster, and
- it opens up our faith to a wider capacity when we are not focusing on what man says, but what God says.
I hope this resonates in your heart as it does in mine. If this has spoke to you in some way I’d love to hear from you? Leave a comment and let’s chat and encourage each other in the journey.
In it with you sweet friends,
Joelle Povolni
