By Chrissy Hon, Pastor’s Wife, Providence Baptist Church, Lowell, Indiana

TRUST IS a vital ingredient to our faith. We trust the Bible to be the Word of God, teaching us about God and all we know of Him. So many struggles in my Christian life are trust problems. If I do not trust my God as He designed me to trust Him, I take much into my hands that He never designed me to handle. It is not a hard task to trust, but not being in control goes against my nature. God reminds us in Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

God knows our nature is to control our world. My present, my future, my provision, my life are seemingly in my hands, and my nature tells me to work harder to “right the wrongs” and make my life what I desire. But in taking control, I get so bogged down and overwhelmed that I cannot do it all. So God reminds me that when I come to Him and place my trust in Him to carry the load, I will not have to bear the weight. He will actually give me rest. Of course, when I place my trust in Him, He absolutely promises me the best. That I can rest in. When the circumstances of my life are not what I would design, I can trust that He is in control and that the yoke will be much easier than carrying the load on my own. Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

God cannot have complete control until I give Him complete trust. The beautiful thing is, control is not a dictatorial state, but trusting God gives Him the freedom to make “all things work together for good.…” Let’s take this a step further.

Since the time of Creation, God designed our world with systems of order. God’s family order is found in 1 Corinthians 11:3.“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” God gave my husband and me a very explicit order of authority. He tells us that Christ is the head of the man and that the man is the head of the woman.

As a woman, it is my nature to want to control my world in my family. But it is my role and job to trust my husband as my head, just as I trust my God to order all things to work together for good. Is my husband as infallible and absolute as my God? As much as I would like for him to be, he still has a sinful human nature. He is not going to make the perfect decisions every time that my God does. He will fail me and himself in leading our family. But that is where the beauty of God’s order and design are made known. Because, in being the head of the husband as the husband is the head of the wife, God is the ultimate head of my family. Therefore, the more I trust my Heavenly Father, the more I can rest in His control of my life and my family.

God teaches me that the more I try to take over the job He never meant me to have, the more I stress myself and become weary. God did not design me to be responsible for my family as He did the man. When I take that job as my own, I only add a load that I need not carry. Not only that, Satan can use my distraction to keep me from accomplishing the job God did create me for—being a help meet.

Again, giving my husband the control and trust as the head of our home is not giving him the position of a dictator. It gives him the freedom to make “all things work together for good….” (Romans 8:28) And if he fails to do this, I can trust that my Heavenly Father is still in control (if I am still trusting Him and letting go) and will truly fulfill Romans 8:28.