Can God Trust You?

By Jessika Apostolova

Can God Trust You?

Have you been praying for God to do something in your life? To use you in a big way? Let me ask you this: Can God trust you to do that? I mean, can God truly trust you to be in that position? To have a bigger platform? To influence thousands of people? Can God trust you?

If you were to be presented with your dream job right now – something you’ve wanted and worked hard on for years – and God told you that opportunity isn’t for you, would you be willing to let it go to follow God?

If the man or woman of your dreams just suddenly appears and wants to move forward with you but God told you “No, they aren’t my will for you” would you be willing to listen?

Whatever dream opportunity you’ve always wanted, if that was to just show up on your doorstep tomorrow, but God told you “No” would you actually turn it down? Would you actually trust that He has something better for you?

Only you know the real answer to that… But before you ask God to something extraordinary and big in your life and use you in a huge way, ask yourself, can God trust me? Will I really put Him first in that position?

Can God really trust you with money and success or will it change you? Can God trust you when you have power and gain influence? The next time you pray for God to use you in a big way, ask yourself: Am I trustworthy in His eyes?

"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death" 
Proverbs 14:12 (NIV)

Healthy Relationships Require Trust.

When you think about some of the most important things a healthy relationship should have, what qualities do you think about? Love? Communication? Respect? How about trust?

Most of us can agree that trust is one of the most essential parts in a healthy relationship – well the same goes for our relationship with God. A lot of us spend so much time thinking about “Can I trust God?” or “How can I learn to trust God in my life?” but have we ever stopped to ask ourselves “Can God trust me? Am I trustworthy in God’s eyes?”

Imagine you are in a relationship that isn’t built on a strong foundation. Let’s say your partner doesn’t communicate as often as they should, they don’t prioritize spending time with you and sometimes you go days or even weeks without hearing from them. Now if they were to ask you for a big favor, something that involves you really needing to trust them, how would you respond? How would you feel? Would you truly want to put yourself out there or put your name at stake for someone who you don’t know how they will represent you?

Well it’s the same with God. Have we proven ourselves trustworthy to Him? We can ask Him for big favors and to bless us with power and success and influence, but have we proven or shown ourselves trustworthy with those things? Or are we asking that of Him for our own glory?

A healthy relationship needs to be worked on daily. You can’t expect to build trust, have a healthy, great and deep connection with someone who you only communicate with once a week for 20 minutes. You have to work on it daily. If we’re not truly seeking God, spending time in His presence, praying and listening to what He has to say, then how can we expect Him to trust us?

God Will Work On You In The Dark

Many of us become frustrated because we have a desire for God to use us in an extraordinary way, but we have never proven ourselves trustworthy in God’s eyes to be in that position. We’re eager to get followers, to have a bigger audience, to gain more influence and power but how can we manage all of that if God hasn’t worked on us in the dark?

What I mean by “in the dark” is a process that is just between you and God where He works on refining you. I associate being in the dark with a desert place or wilderness. Moses was in the desert for 40 years during which God was working on Moses and preparing him to lead Israel out of Egypt. After the Israelites were delivered from their bondage in Egypt, God led them into the desert. David also spent a significant amount of time in the wilderness before God made him the greatest king in Israel’s history. My point is that there seems to be a pattern with God using desert or wilderness seasons in the lives of people to work on them and refine them.

When we find ourselves in the dark or in a desert place, it often feels like God is not working in our life – but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, it’s purpose is to humble us and reveal what is in our heart.

"Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands."
Deuteronomy 8:2 (NIV)

When we’re in the dark God molds us. God will work on our selfishness in the dark when it’s just you and Him. He will work on your pride so that when something big happens you don’t give yourself the glory but rather turn it back to God. He will work on your jealousy so you don’t see someone in a position that you want to be in and try and sabotage them or bring them down just to raise yourself up. He will work on your anger so you can be patient with people who won’t agree with you and make rude comments about you. He will work on your lust so that when you do have a bigger platform and more attention you don’t fall into the trap of entertaining adultery or cheating, but instead use that bigger platform to bring people to Jesus instead. He will work on all of these things in you in the dark. He will remove any impurities you may have in the dark.

This way, once He is ready to put you out into the world, He won’t be embarrassed because you will represent Him well. God doesn’t get glory out of embarrassing you. God will work on you in the dark because He knows people won’t be able to receive from you while you still have that Simon in you. The old you. That Simon type of petty. The Simon type of attitude. Instead God deals with us in private in the dark so that when He does put you out into the world all they will see is Peter. You may want to go to the next level but there is still too much Jacob and not Israel. There is still too much Abram and not Abraham.

If God just put you out into the world right now because you feel you’re ready and because you want to, but He hasn’t cleansed your cursing mouth in the dark – how will He be represented when you’re faced with people who don’t like you and say stuff about you, but you respond in the same manner by cursing them and stooping to that level? How would God be represented in that? You could have all the success and influence in the world but if you haven’t dealt with certain issues like that in the dark, then you will just end up pushing people further away from what you have to say about God and ultimately from Him.

You Will Have To Sacrifice

So can God trust you? Can God trust you to turn down what seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity? Can God trust you to remain faithful to what He tells you? Or will you start to drift? Will you try to justify your actions? Will you try to have one foot in the world like, okay God I’m just going to entertain this relationship because even though you told me they weren’t the one I think I can change their heart and make them believe. Or God I know you told me not to take that career offer but I’m only going to take this one opportunity because it’s going to pay me a lot and I’m going to get out of debt and I’m going to be able to save more money… No!

You can’t have one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom at the same time. You WILL have to sacrifice. I can tell you this right now: if you really want to follow Jesus, if you really want Him to use you in a big way: you will have to make some of the biggest sacrifices in your life.

Trust me, I know…

When I made the decision to truly live for Jesus and to seek His will before my own it was as if the enemy instantly started to work with full force. It was like he immediately started to bring up offers and things on my path that if he were to bring them up a couple of years ago I wouldn’t have been able to resist. I’m talking about my dream job, movie roles, my career, relationships – and I had to look at each one of those opportunities and say no. It wasn’t easy. It’s not as if I woke up and magically didn’t have the desire for them anymore! No! I did! There was nothing more my flesh would have wanted than for me to say yes I’ll take this opportunity, but God was telling me no. I tried to justify it, but God was telling me no. Seeing how people around me appeared to be flourishing because they were accepting those offers made me question my own choices for a while… but ultimately it came down to this:

There is nothing I want more than doing God’s will. I want God to use me in extraordinary ways. I want to help and encourage people and bring them to Christ. I wanted to have a platform where I could see changes happening in people’s lives, but was I trustworthy in God’s eyes? When I ask myself this question, it helps me stand firm in my decisions and my beliefs that no matter what opportunities come my way, if I turn them down for God, there is nothing that can compare to what God has in store for those who trust Him and are trustworthy in His eyes. If God can trust you, God can use you.

What may seem like a big opportunity you turned down because of God right now can’t compare to the opportunities God will give you down the road if you just stay in His will and obey Him. Put Him first. Be faithful to Him. Be obedient especially when it’s hard. Be patient, it’s His timing not yours. God will do extraordinary things in your life, but you have to trust Him and be trustworthy.