“We trust God for the strength to do [the actions he calls us to]. And for the inspiration to be able to know what the right thing is to do at the right time.”- Michele Morin

 

Join me in looking into Psalm 81 and considering how to stay on the right path as we are tempted by the satisfaction of the world.   

 

Journaling Questions:

• How do we find what God is calling us to?
• Do you find yourself seeking the answer or the outcome rather than seeking God?
• When we find ourselves seeking something other than God what is the next step of trust?
• Do you have a friend you can discuss these types of topics with? Are you willing to be able to discuss your questions or your weaknesses?
• What Characteristics of God do you see in Psalm 81?

Interested in a guide to help you spend time with the Lord and consider according to the character and will of the one that loves us, what is your next step of trust? sign up here to receive this journaling tool in your inbox.

 

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Verses mentioned in the episode:

• Psalm 81
• Matthew 7:9 ff
• Ephesians 2:10

See below for a full transcript of the show.

[00:00:00] Erin: Hi everyone. It’s Aaron, Michelle. Welcome to steps to trusting at steps to trusting. It’s my goal to meet you where you are in your faith journey, and to encourage you to continue to take steps to trusting the Lord more fully.

[00:00:17] Welcome back. Have you ever yourself asking the question, what’s my next step of trust?

[00:00:24] And you find yourself asking the question, how do I know what that next step is?

[00:00:28] At the end of last week’s podcast episode, me and Michelle found ourselves there at that question how do we know the next step of trust? And guys, I will admit this week, I have been seeking out

[00:00:41] trying to know the next step. In fact, I find myself in God’s word asking him to show me what’s next, what’s next.

[00:00:49] I realized in that moment I’m seeking what’s next, instead of seeking my God. Have you ever been there? Have you ever found that you are seeking what’s next or you’re seeking the blessing or you’re seeking a good thing that God placed in front of you instead of seeking God. If you’re like me and you have found yourself there, then this podcast conversation is for you.

[00:01:13] I find that as they come off of last week’s podcast . I’m still struggling with this idea of how we live out mundane actions with joy, and I’m still struggling with

[00:01:25] how do I spend my time? How do I know what God is calling me to with each moment that he’s given me? So let’s do a little bit of that struggling together.

[00:01:37] Erin: Last week on the podcast while she was talking about trying to figure out the actions that we should take, Michele Morin said. We trust God for the strength to do it. And for the inspiration to be able to know what the right thing is to do at the right time.

[00:01:55] Okay. this battle within us, this struggle to want to know what the right thing is to do. It’s a battle of trust. Do we trust that God will lead us?

[00:02:06] Every week on the show, I quote Ephesians two 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

[00:02:18] And every week I struggle with some aspect of my life that I am not trusting God.

[00:02:25] This week, it comes down to this question. Do we trust God to show us the works that he has for us? Do we trust that he has prepared them beforehand? Do we trust that he will show them to us so we can walk in them?

[00:02:40] And I would have to confess

[00:02:43] that I want to trust him in this area. And yet I still struggle through. I struggle because my own selfishness takes over. And it becomes entangled and entwined in the desires that I have. But if I trust him and if I keep my eyes on him, I, at some point we’ll start to see when it shifts to seeking the desired. instead of seeking him through the desire that he gave me.

[00:03:13] Going back to this idea, that Michele challenged me with is, are we trusting God? Are we trusting God for the strength to know the next. And are we trusting him

[00:03:27] for the strength and the willingness to do that? Do you ever feel that question in your heart? And you see the end goal that you’re trying to point towards and you don’t know how to go forward. And all your efforts, you’re trying to make progress and you seem that you’re spinning your wheels.

[00:03:46] I felt this too. And actually this podcast is really flowing out of a conversation that I had with a friend where we were discussing.

[00:03:55] Sometimes we go to God wanting him to give us the answer to our next step. We come to him and we think, okay, I need to figure out I need to look at God in God’s word and I need to figure out, okay, what’s my next. And this could sound a lot, like what I’m talking to you guys about throughout the season.

[00:04:15] If not clear, it could be like, okay, I’m going to go to God’s word. And I’m going to look for what’s the next step God wants me to take. But after this conversation with a friend, my mindset as really shifted. But yes, we do look in God’s word and we see how his truth rubs up against our life and see what is our next step often in that situation.

[00:04:41] But when we go to God’s word specifically wanting something, wanting an answer, I think really we’re trusting our own strength and not trusting God’s word. I think what the difference is is that when we come to the Lord to be in his presence, that often that’s the overflow, the overflow is figuring out what God has for us.

[00:05:03] What is the next step he has for us? I want to read you guys a passage From Psalm 81 verse 10. I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, open wide your mouth. And I will fill it. This is the verse I really want to focus on. but I want to go ahead and read it in context, because when I first read this, I wonder what does he mean? Open up your mouth wide and I will fill it. So let’s take a look. Let’s read it in context. We’re going to read Psalm 81, sing aloud to God our strength. Shout for joy to the God of Jacob. Raise a song, sound, the tambourine, the sweet lyre and the harp blow the trumpet at the full moon on our feast day for it is a statute for Israel, a rule of the God of Jacob.

[00:05:53] He made it a decree in Joseph. When he went out over the land of Egypt, I hear a language I had not known. I relieved your shoulder of the burden. Your hands were freed from the basket. In distress, you called and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Hear oh my people while I admonish you. Oh, Israel, if you would but listen to me. There shall be no strange God among you.

[00:06:24] You shall not bow down to a foreign God. I am the Lord. Your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open wide your mouth. And I will fill it. ut my people, did not listen to my voice. So Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow other councils. Oh. That my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my way.

[00:06:51] I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him and their fate would last forever. But he would feed you with the finest of wheat and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

[00:07:08] Look at that last verse, Psalm 81 verse 16. But he would feed you with the finest of wheat with honey, from the rock I would satisfy you.

[00:07:21] Do you hear that echo, of verse 10 in verse 16, there that he would feed you with the finest of wheat and with the honey from the rock I would satisfy you. If we go back to 10. It says, I am the Lord, your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, open, wide your mouth. And I will fill it. But friends, are we waiting for God to fill us?

[00:07:47] Are we seeking to be in his presence to know who he is to learn from him at his feet? Or are we seeking the food that he offers.

[00:07:57] Are we seeking him for the food that he offers or are we seeking him?

[00:08:03] This is something that I am greatly challenged by currently. Guys, this is my second go, at recording this podcast and I will tell you the first try, I quick sat down and I researched some Bible verses and I thought I knew what I was going to say. And I had got in here and I didn’t have words to say. I didn’t have an overflow to share with you guys because I didn’t allow God to pour into me.

[00:08:31] I instead went to his word, like I was trying to accomplish something or fix something or find the next step for myself.

[00:08:41] I had this conversation with my friend, and then I was driving home. And the song house of the Lord by Crowder came on. And I’m just going to read you a small part of it. It says, if you’re needing water for your soul, well you’re in the right place, it doesn’t matter if you’re rich, you’re poor, whoever you are, this is where we all find grace. Later on it says, bring your heartache, bring your burden. You can lay them down at the door. There is no fear. You belong here. Step into the house of the Lord. And reading that just made me think of just being in his presence. Not coming to his word for something, but being with him, seeing who he is, knowing who he is.

[00:09:29] And that’s part of why I read this passage Psalm 81 in full, because it reminds us who he is. It starts off saying that we should sing to God who is our strength.

[00:09:43] It calls God our strength.

[00:09:45] It reminds us that he’s the God of our forefathers

[00:09:49] and it continues on to tell what God did for Israel in the land of Egypt. He said he carried their burdens so that their hands would be free from the basket. He says that he heard them when they called and he delivered them. He answered them.

[00:10:05] He also says he tested them and admonished them. And then he says this, I am the Lord, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

[00:10:22] He’s saying don’t forget who I am.

[00:10:24] I’m going to lead you. I’m going to provide for you. I’m going to give you what you need. You can trust me.

[00:10:31] This verse strikes me strongly in the moment where I want to open my mouth and have his praises flow out and have his wisdom flow out. And I can trust him to fill it in that way. And I know that’s not specifically what the text is saying here, but it is saying I will provide for you.

[00:10:52] I will do the work. Trust me.

[00:10:54] We don’t need to go after and seeking all of the things of this world. We don’t need to seek our own answers.

[00:11:01] We need to trust the Lord. We need to look to what he’s calling us to. And so as much as I’m saying, we don’t go specifically to God’s word, just to find our next step, to find the answers to our problems. We should go to God’s word because God is there. We should listen to the rules and the commandments.

[00:11:24] Not because they may fix us or help us, or make us grow. We should listen to the rules and the commandments because they flow out of the heart of God, the one who will fill us when we come to him.

[00:11:42] And he says in 16, again, he says, but he would feed you with the finest of wheat. And with honey from the rock, I will satisfy you.

[00:11:52] we can trust him for good things.

[00:11:55] This makes me think of the verse that says, which one of you, if your son asks for bread will give him a stone. Or if he asks for fish, give him a serpent. If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children? How much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him, that’s found in Matthew seven, starting in verse nine. So that first came to mind. I went and looked it up and let’s read it in context. Okay. Matthew seven verse seven ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find no. And it will be open to you for everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks it will be opened, or which one of you, if a son asks for bread will give him a stone.

[00:12:47] Right? It continues on, I love this. I love that God’s word is consistent and true. In Psalm 81 16, he says, he’ll satisfy us and give us the finest of wheat. He’s going to give us good things. And in Matthew seven verse seven, he says that

[00:13:07] if we seek him, we’ll find him. That he will give us good things.

[00:13:13] Back to this idea of being in God’s presence. So many other things drop away and fall away, when we put God first in our lives. We get so confused. We see his blessings and we get confused that we think the blessing is actually what we desire or what we need or what is fair and right.

[00:13:35] It goes back to, as Michele was talking in the last podcast, our hearts, our little idle factories, right. We see the good things that God has given us and we seek after those good things instead of seeking after Him. And I think that is a matter of trust. We stopped trusting God that he will provide for us, provide what we need. And we start seeking the blessing. We do that in our own strength. We don’t trust him for it.

[00:14:06] Friends. I want you to know I’m preaching to myself here, because even in good things, as I talked about trying to seek knowledge for a podcast, because I want to encourage people. We don’t want to do it in our strength. We don’t want to seek that thing. We want to seek God. Seeking being in his presence.

[00:14:27] And trusting him that being in his presence, when we seek him, he will provide for us. We can trust him to provide for us.

[00:14:36] Friends. I’m encouraged because even as I’m recording this podcast and I’m talking about God’s presence.

[00:14:45] I’m realizing and I’m learning that God wants to draw us into his presence. I’m watching , how God is putting together the pieces of this lesson that we’re trying to walk on, this journey that we’re trying to go on this journey of trust.

[00:15:02] That God is calling us to his presence. The next show is with a friend of mine, Anna Kiker. And, Anna challenges us to be present in our current circumstances. She challenges us to be present with our families and challenges and in good times, And even just the mundane everyday life to be present with them.

[00:15:28] And then she challenges us to be present in that way with our family. She learned this lesson by learning that she needed to be present with God. She needed to let God work in her life and show her that this is the path that he currently had her on. Friends. I encourage you guys, as we prepare for even thinking about that show, I encourage you to think about how would the presence of God transform your life?

[00:16:01] Finding God is this refuge being in his presence, knowing who he is seeking him, depending on him. How does this, depending on the presence of God, change, how we interact with those around us and how we interact with those we love?

[00:16:22] I’m so encouraged because as God is impressing this on my heart, that we need to be in the house of the Lord, right? We need to be in his presence. There is grace here. There are blessings here. There are good things and satisfaction, and it is all. From the presence of the Lord.

[00:16:42] Friends, I encourage you to continue to set your eyes on the Lord, to not set your eyes on the blessings, to not set your eyes on the end that you’re seeking, but to rest in the presence of the Lord. To rest, knowing that we can trust him to fill our mouths. We can trust him to feed us with the finest of wheat.

[00:17:06] We can trust him to give us sweet things from the rock. We can trust him that he will satisfy our souls.

[00:17:15] Let’s close in prayer. Dear God, I thank you. And I praise you that you are with us. I thank you that you are trustworthy Lord in this passage, in the Psalms, you remind us who you are. You are the God who gives us strength. You And are the God who is with us,

[00:17:34] Who answers us, who carries our burdens. You are our God. We can trust to continue to do those things in our lives. Lord give us eyes to see when it feels challenging and we feel like we’re carrying the burden. Lord God help us to give that burden to you.

[00:17:54] Help us to do that in your strength and not our strength. Forgive us for when

[00:18:00] We do act in our own. We try to be good enough or do enough to seek the outcome that we want instead of seeking you. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to seek you.and remember the promise that if we seek, we will find, if we knock the door will be open. Lord God help us to knock on the door.

[00:18:22] Lord God, help us to come your presence. We’ll find grace there

[00:18:28] And peace and love and mercy, because we’ll find you. It’s in Jesus name. I pray. Amen friends. I’m glad that we could be together today. Thank you so much for joining me. As I mentioned earlier, this lesson that God is placing on my heart really came from a conversation and I challenge from my friend to be thinking about these deeper things. We want to have these deeper conversations. And I’m so glad that you’re joining me here for them. And I encourage you to have these conversations with your friends to let them be people that can point you to God and for you to be people that point your friends to God.

[00:19:10] If you think this podcast would help you in a friend, continue in deeper conversation. Conversation that really matters deep in our hearts and in our souls. I encourage you to share that with a friend.

[00:19:22] I would also love to connect with you and have some of these conversations.

[00:19:26] You can find me on Instagram and Facebook at steps to trust. We’ll be having some of these conversations as well as I encourage you guys to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll hear new news from me, as well as get the journaling resource that will help you guys look into God’s word and consider what is your next step. I’ve told you about that resource before, but I haven’t said this before, because I think even now I’m still learning it. We can’t go to God just for our next step.

[00:19:58] We go to him to sit in his presence and we ask him, we trust him. God, will you reveal your next step in my life?

[00:20:06] So friends, I want to ask you, what is your next step of trust?

[00:20:11] Thanks for going on this journey with me. I can’t wait to see you again next time, but until then, I wanted to leave you with this reminder from Ephesians two 10 for we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

[00:20:29] Friends. I’m praying for you as you keep on stepping.