25 Prayers for 25 Years | Day 14 | Forgiveness for Failing to Trust God

By: Pastor Bill Schott
In today’s devotional, CCA Fort Lauderdale’s Bible Department Head, Pastor Bill Schott, continues our 25 Prayers for 25 Years series by encouraging us to place our trust fully in the Lord rather than in our own understanding. 

Scripture:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

–Proverbs 3:5-6
 

Reflection:

Did you know that there are 31,174 verses in the Bible? That’s a lot of verses! God is a Master Communicator and He is speaking to us every day through His word. But what does this number mean to us? 

Unlike modern authors who tend to put the highlight of a story at the end, ancient authors often put the main point of the writing right in the middle of the text. This writing style is known as chiasmus, and many portions of Scripture are written this way. 

When we look to the very center of our Bibles, half-way through the 31,174 verses, we find Psalm 118:8-9 at the very heart of holy Scripture. The theme there is trust:

“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.”

Trust is absolutely central to our relationship with God. Trust literally ‘centers’ us in His will. 

As we celebrate 25 years of God’s faithfulness at CCA and pray for another 25, our trust in Him has been, is, and always will be the center of our relationship with God. It has to be if we are to be found faithful. 
 
This brings us to our reflection today. Proverbs 3:5-6 is an oft memorized portion of Scripture, and it also centers us in the importance of trusting the LORD.

Trusting in the LORD with all our hearts is not easy. If we are honest about it, we fail at this a lot! Instead of trusting God, we tend to lean on our own understanding, the very thing we are warned against. 

Think about Abraham. What would have been your understanding of the command to sacrifice your son to God (Genesis 22:2)? Abraham understood some key attributes of God that allowed him to trust in God with all his heart and not lean on his own understanding. According to Hebrews 11:11-12, 17-19, Abraham knew two things that allowed his heroic trust in God: 

First, that Isaac had promises attached to his offspring, offspring he couldn’t have if he were dead (11:18).

Second, that God can bring life out of death. Abraham fathered Isaac with a body that, as it pertains to reproduction, was as good as dead due to his advanced age (11:12). Abraham was able to trust in God with all his heart because he knew God so well. He knew God would not break a promise, and Isaac was promised offspring. He learned after he fathered Isaac through the deadness of his body that God can and will bring life out of death. 

Do we know God like Abraham did? Do we trust God as Abraham did? Trusting God with all our hearts directly involves knowing God rightly. We are to know Him like Abraham so we can trust him like Abraham. We are to acknowledge Him in all our ways, so that all our ways will be all His ways.

When we fail to trust God, when we lean on our own understanding, we fall into the same snare of the devil that Adam and Eve did. We, in essence, seek to become like God in carving out our own paths instead of following His. 

This failing to trust God has led to all sorts of sin. But just as God quickly offered Adam and Eve forgiveness through a sacrifice, He still does so today through a much greater sacrifice. And this sacrifice was of a much greater Son than Isaac – it was the Son of God himself. 

This knowledge of God should always lead us in repentant prayer for failing to trust God with all our hearts, for “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Therefore, we pray, “forgive us for failing to trust You, O God”. 

Trusting God with all our hearts is what we have striven for at all levels at CCA for the past 25 years. This is what we must continue to do over the next 25, so that God will continue to direct our paths. Trusting God is essential for living out the will of God. Maybe that’s why it is in the center of our Bibles!

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, 

We thank You for being faithful and trustworthy through every season. We confess that we often lean on our own understanding instead of fully trusting in You. Forgive us, Lord, for the times we’ve doubted Your goodness or tried to take control of our own paths.

Help us to know You more deeply, so that our trust in You grows stronger – like Abraham, who believed in Your promises even when they didn’t make sense. Remind us daily that You did not spare Your own Son, and because of that, we can trust You in all things.

As we celebrate 25 years of Your faithfulness at CCA, we recommit our hearts to trust You completely. Center us in Your will, guide our steps, and help us to acknowledge You in all our ways. May our trust in You be more than words – may it shape our lives, our community, and our future. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 
 
Bill Schott has been a part of CCA for 23 years and currently serves as the CCA Pastor and Bible Department Head at the Fort Lauderdale campus. He loves serving the Lord and playing with his two grandchildren, Emma and Jacob. His favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 6:8.
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