In Whom do I Trust?

“Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you.” Psalm 37:5

Three weeks before I needed the tradesman I arranged for him to come over, review the job and present a quote. Because I knew this man as an acquaintance and thought I knew his work ethic, I said to my husband later, “I trust him to do the job on time and properly. I don’t need to get other quotes. And besides, it's a challenge to get tradespeople to return calls and show up at the job site during this construction boom.” Two weeks later, I called the tradesman and made an appointment with him to do the job one week later. It was a “two-day” job, he said. I booked him in between the plumber and the floor installer. The day before the appointment, he called to say he would be delayed by one day. The next day he called to say there would be another delay. “Would the next day be alright?” “Yes. But can you work around the floor installer?” “Of course,” he assured me. On the third day, he arrived, but after a short while working around the noise and clutter of the floor installer, made another excuse and left. Yet another appointment was made four days later for him to finish the job.

At this point, my stress level was rising; my patience was disappearing. I was not pleased! The amount of trust and confidence I had apportioned to him was obviously misplaced. Not only was I disappointed that I had hired someone unable to keep to his commitments but also our renovation was getting behind schedule. Stress was building rapidly! I did not understand why God was allowing this trouble to occur now when He had greatly blessed our previous four months of renovations. “Why, oh why, God? Please solve this issue. I trusted this man and now I am disappointed.” Then it hit me like a pound of nails – I had trusted a person instead of God.

“Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you.” Psalm 37:5

With one week left before the absolute deadline for this work, my prayers turned desperate. “God, PLEASE, bring a tradesman who will answer his phone, come when he says, and complete the job in time. PLEASE!!!! I am trusting YOU now! Forgive me for not trusting YOU.” I knew now that it would only be by divine intervention that this job would be done on time!

True to His integrity, God answered my prayer a few days later, but only after letting me alternate between sweating it out and waiting trustfully. I always smile at God’s timing! With three days to spare, another tradesman and his apprentice came and completed the job. “Whew!”

My lesson: instead of trusting only in people, trust in God to move through people to get the job done!