Follow The One Who Is Trustworthy
December 16, 2021 • by Mallory Manning
An unexpected gift of spending time with a toddler is witnessing—in raw, unfiltered form—the need for wise help to both understand and be rightly oriented within the world. Whether my daughter loses sight of me at the playground, stumbles in the hallway, or wakes to the sound of thunder, she relies on me to restore her bearings.
And just like her, I too need help interpreting what’s happening around me: What am I to think of the current political division? How do I manage the needs of my family with my personal workload? Why won’t my two-year-old nap?
These questions and uncertainties are not the cataclysmic or faith-shattering sort; seeking godly help while facing crisis or trauma is important and a larger conversation. But lately I’ve considered just how much wisdom I need in the everyday work of loving God and loving people—amidst the low hum of second-guessing, the absence of quick solutions, and the desire for clear next steps.
Sadly, my flesh often leads me to grasp onto whatever piece of immediate, earthly wisdom I can find. I forget that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). Instead of turning to him I jump on Instagram to see what specific people or accounts would advise. I scroll through Google results. I ask friends and perpetuate narratives and try to come up with my own answers while scrubbing dishes.
Yet into this place, the prophet Jeremiah’s words breathe holy conviction.
“Thus says the Lord:
‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.’”
- Jeremiah 17:5–8
God gave these words to Jeremiah in the midst of his people’s rebellion and idolatry. The book is packed with warnings of judgment and calls to repentance and reliance on the Lord alone. Like the Israelites, I too need frequent reminders of the futility of trusting in all the wrong things for wisdom, righteousness, and a fruitful life.
“When we follow Jesus, we agree to a new source of abundance, a new wellspring of wisdom, and a new orientation to the world.”
“Follow Me”
When Jesus extended the invitation for people to follow him in the Gospels, we see that he cared more about the posture of their hearts than about their real-time footsteps. And although the Lord called a handful to travel with him to spread the Good News, he called all to find their ultimate hope and to place their supreme trust in him. To follow him is to trust him.
When we follow Jesus, we agree to a new source of abundance, a new wellspring of wisdom, and a new orientation to the world. Jesus instructed the curious and the questioning to lay down their reliance on wealth, power, comfort, and legalism in order to make space for their trust in his sovereign goodness to grow.
And he still does.
A Life Untethered
Jeremiah’s description of the shrub in the desert points us to the dried-up consequences of trusting in human strength for what only God can give. At several points this past year, I wrestled with the political implications of my identity as a Christian in a new way. I noticed that I often look to the same handful of individuals in my social circles and online to help me gauge how to respond to the cultural turmoil. Some of those people follow Jesus. Others do not.
While it benefited me to listen to various conversations, it became increasingly tempting to seek out more and more information until a low-grade anxiety crept in and undermined my attempts to pray and to be with Jesus. I truly desired wisdom to navigate this age, but I sought it in secondary places.
Without roots to keep us tethered to God’s sufficiency and steadfast love, we will spiral just like that desert shrub. Without the anchor of his Word, we will jump from ideology to ideology and flit from one nice-sounding mantra to the next. Without trust in the Lord, we will be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:14).
My point is not to encourage disdain for spiritual leaders and God-fearing guides who lead us in the way of wisdom. We need them! But when I incline my heart to the internet or the affirmation of my husband before the Holy Spirit, I place my trust in earthly help. “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God” (1 Cor. 3:19).
An additional lure is to believe that I am to be most trusted; that it’s all up to me to protect, manage, and control. But the verse immediately following our Jeremiah 17 passage describes the heart as “deceitful above all things” (v. 9). On the days when I’m blown about by my to-do list and my short fuse, the Lord speaks firm and gentle:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.”
- Proverbs 3:5–8
Planted by the Water
In glorious contrast to the untethered, unrooted person, the one “who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord” is like a solid, established tree on a riverbank (v. 7–8). Psalm 1 echoes this picture of stability, saying that the person who delights in God’s Word is like a tree “that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither” (v. 3).
The progression of trust is slowly formed. When I rush toward quick solutions and immediate results in times of stress, turning to earthly wisdom with only one ear half-listening to the Lord, I stunt the deep roots God seeks to develop in me. The antidote is to stay near the source of Living Water, who eagerly provides it without measure. Jesus says to the Samaritan woman in John 4, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (v. 10). And won’t he do the same for us?
“May we be increasingly quick to trust the only one worthy of our utmost reliance.”
Practically, this could look like a regular practice of remembering and naming ways God has been faithful in the past. We might need to ask God for faith to believe that taking in his Word will bear fruit—even when we don’t sense the growth. It could mean evaluating and aligning our hearts and minds with a biblical worldview in a moment when we experience spiritual, emotional, or relational dissonance. (Have you listened to the Journeywomen conversation with Dianne Jago on Developing a Biblical Worldview, yet?)
By God’s grace, we can become women who experience the pressure points of confusion and uncertainty yet continue to bless the Lord and those around us with our words and our service. We can grapple with our next steps and seek practical guidance yet remember the Spirit is our true Counselor. We can bear witness to suffering and grieve it sincerely yet remain joyful in God’s promises to be with us now and to restore all things in eternity.
May we be increasingly quick to trust the only one worthy of our utmost reliance. And may he grant us the grace and the wisdom to respond to his daily invitation: “Follow me.”
Mallory Manning lives in Indiana and helps shape words for Campus House and Deeply Rooted Magazine. Much of her writing is the overflow of noticing small moments that hold invitations to give and receive grace, move toward connection, and pursue faithfulness. She treasures being a wife and friend to Thomas and mom to Amelia. Connect with Mallory at malloryrmanning.com.
MORE FROM JOURNEYWOMEN
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen articles are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select writers each week, articles shared on the Journeywomen website do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the authors or any other resources mentioned.
