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Trust Is Superior To Knowledge

Trust Is Superior To Knowledge

September 22, 2019 by Matt Pavlik 1 Comment

If we waited until we knew God completely before trusting Him, we’d wait forever. Even in heaven, we won’t exhaust the depths of who He is. Trust is not the reward for perfect understanding—it’s the posture of a person who knows he is loved.

This truth reshapes how we live today. We don’t need omniscience to walk in peace. We need confidence in the One who knows all things.

Knowing Everything Is Impossible

Sometimes I imagine life would be easier if I just knew everything. If I had all the answers, maybe I’d feel more secure. But the pursuit of exhaustive knowledge can become a trap—an endless loop of analysis that never leads to rest.

Explanations can be helpful, but they’re not always necessary. If you don’t need to know something to live a content, productive, and faithful life, then maybe it’s not yours to carry.

Wisdom begins with knowing God, but it doesn’t end with knowing all the answers. You can be wise and still be learning. In fact, it’s the fool who believes he’s finished learning (see Proverbs 10:14; 12:15).

To the one who thinks he has everything, what motive is there to act?
To the one who thinks he is well, what motive is there to seek a doctor?
To the one who thinks he knows everything, what motive is there to seek wisdom?

To be God is to have more to reveal.
To be human is to receive what He reveals—and respond with trust.

Consider these different translations of Proverbs 25:2:

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.

It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.

God is praised for being mysterious; rulers are praised for explaining mysteries.

We honor God for what he conceals; we honor kings for what they explain.

Proverbs 25:2 ESV, NLT, CEV, GNT

God’s mystery isn’t a barrier—it’s an invitation. He conceals not to frustrate, but to draw us deeper. Our glory is not in mastering Him, but in seeking Him.

Faith Makes Trusting God Possible

Faith is not blind—it’s relational. It bridges the gap between knowing facts about God and knowing God as a person. It’s the shortcut to intimacy.

Knowledge is like a house, but trust makes it a home. Knowledge builds the framework; trust walks across the bridge. We don’t climb to God through facts—we’re carried by faith into His presence.

The framework alone is incomplete. Trust is the bridge that leads to communion—where we don’t just observe God’s truth, we abide in His love.

You can study theology for decades and still miss the heart of God. But one moment of living faith can lead to surrender and bring you into communion with Him. In that communion, Christian concepts are no longer just ideas; they become living, nourishing truths.

The road of factual knowledge alone doesn’t lead to love. Faith is the only way to experience the depth of God’s love.

Knowledge Puffs Up, But Love Builds Trust

There’s a tension here: we’re invited to seek God, to pursue wisdom, to ask questions. But we’re also called to rest in Him, even when the answers don’t come.

You can enjoy the pursuit of God and all His mysteries. But don’t let the unknowns rob you of joy in the present moment.

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

Finding God doesn’t mean finding all the answers. It means finding His loving arms. When you’re secure in His love, many of the details lose their urgency.

When you trust God to guide you, you don’t have to obsess over the condition or direction of the road.

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.

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

What Is the Condition of Your Road?

Maybe your road feels uncertain. Maybe it’s steep, winding, or shrouded in fog. But that doesn’t mean you have to be afraid. Ask God for His touch, His love. Ask Him for wisdom. Then trust Him with whatever road lies before you—because faith and trust flourish not in worldly facts, but in the presence of God’s mystery and love.

What mystery are you facing today?
Don’t wait for perfect clarity. Ask for perfect love.
And let trust carry you forward.

What part of your journey feels foggy right now? Write down what you wish you understood—and then ask God what He’s inviting you to trust.

Learn more about trusting God.
Image by enriquelopezgarre from Pixabay
Last updated 20250914.

Filed Under: Core Longings, Salvation in Christ Tagged With: love, security, seeking, trust, wisdom

Is Love A Choice

Is Love a Choice?

November 17, 2019 by Matt Pavlik 3 Comments

God loves you. But what does this mean? God is love (1 John 4:16). So, God has to love. He can’t not love. Does He love out of obligation? Is His love involuntary?

We know God cares enough to die for us (John 3:16). He paid the price to redeem us. He is patient with us. He did what He had to do to keep us alive (spiritually).

To say love is a choice is to say that it is objective. You and I can show love despite how we feel about another person. If we only loved when we felt like it, our actions would only be motivated by how others treat us. But here I am talking about human love which can be fickle.

God’s agape is different. It always does right. It flows out of who God is. In that sense, it could be described as involuntary.

Love makes it impossible to harm another, so love fulfills all that the law requires.

Romans 13:10 TPT

Much of life is starkly unpredictable, so it’s nice that God doesn’t change His mind about loving us.

Is Love More Than a Choice?

When love is a choice, it’s a rational, steady, and dependable love. But there is more to it than that. Love as only a choice is incomplete. Love includes compassion, affection, and favor. Agape is motivated by feeling. But keep in mind that God’s feelings are pure, undefiled by any sin.

The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV

Subjective, irrational love is at the center of agape. God is not cold, loving only out of obligation. He is passionate and unrelenting. God’s favor, from the core of His being, drives Him to save us no matter the cost.

God’s Love is Irrational

God goes “all in” with His love toward us. This makes it an extravagant love. God’s loving favor doesn’t make sense, but that’s what makes it wonderful.

God doesn’t only do the minimum decent thing to do. He doesn’t save us in compassion and then tell us to go on our way. He adopts us into His family (1 John 3:1; Romans 8:14-30).

God’s family is forever. In Isaiah 49, God’s people felt like Yahweh had abandoned them.

Yahweh responds, “But how could a loving mother forget her nursing child and not deeply love the one she bore? Even if a there is a mother who forgets her child, I could never, no never, forget you.

Isaiah 49:15 TPT

God’s affection for you is greater than any imperfect parent.

If you, imperfect as you are, know how to lovingly take care of your children and give them what’s best, how much more ready is your heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask him?”

Matthew 7:11 TPT

God has a strong bond of love with you. He withholds nothing good from you. What can you do today to believe, trust, and feel God’s affection for you?

For God has proved his love by giving us his greatest treasure, the gift of his Son. And since God freely offered him up as the sacrifice for us all, he certainly won’t withhold from us anything else he has to give.

Romans 8:32 TPT

So, God loves you. He values you. He saves you. He rejoices because of you. He makes you a co-heir with Christ.

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV

God has many good things in store for you, things too wonderful to fully comprehend today, but things that allow you to experience the fullness of hope as you are filled with God (Ephesians 3:20).

Read more about God’s love.
Image by Alan from Pixabay
Last updated 2023/04/30

Filed Under: Marriage in Christ, Core Longings, Identity in Christ, Salvation in Christ Tagged With: desire, love

Relax Into A Reliable God

Relax Into A Reliable God

January 19, 2020 by Matt Pavlik 2 Comments

God is reliable but not predictable–He does not change in shifty ways (James 1:17). Have you ever lost something important and then felt a sickening panic when you couldn’t find it? Ever felt like you misplaced God? Nothing is lost if you know what you are looking for, where to find it, and how to detect it.

In the Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo has a moment when he can’t find The Ring. He looks all over for it and works himself into a frenzy. But then after only a few minutes, he finds it in his pocket (where he left it).

When you’ve lost something important, a few anxious minutes can feel like an eternity. When this happens, more than a physical sensation is involved. A spirit of fear can take hold. You can almost touch it like you are walking through a dense cloud of it. Before you know it, you can believe you are doomed.

God is Reliable (He’s not hiding or lost)

In Luke 15, Jesus tells several parables about us being lost and the rejoicing that happens when we repent and move toward God. While Jesus never worries or panics, it is clear that He misses us when we become distracted with life and forget about Him.

From our perspective, isn’t it usually the other way around? We think we know where we are and we declare that God is missing.

I can’t feel God anymore. God, are you there? It doesn’t feel like you are there. Don’t you care that I’m suffering?

This reminds me of Mary when her brother Lazarus died. “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:32). She is hurting and disappointed. But she knows that God’s presence makes all the difference.

God is Reliable (but you might not feel His presense)

When God is present, it is first a spiritual experience and second an emotional experience. If you find yourself all alone in the sense that you can’t feel God’s presence, you might be tuned to the wrong channel.

If you only go looking for God with your feelings, you might miss Him. He’s always there, but you can’t always feel Him. You can read the Bible and know He will never abandon you. But I’m talking about something different.

When Jesus left us, He sent His Holy Spirit to be with us.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.

John 14:16-18 NLT

God is Reliable (your salvation is secure)

God will never leave you. If the Holy Spirit is a deposit to guarantee your salvation, then it isn’t possible to lose your salvation. There are definitely times when circumstances can convince you God is gone. The enemy is a deceiver. He wants to mislead you so you will become discouraged and stop living for God. You can’t lose your salvation, but you can “misplace” it.

God is right there “in your pocket” but if you panic, you won’t be able to sense Him. If you are blinded, God could be right there with you but, if you panic, you can blind yourself to His presence and stray into a dangerous mental state. If you can’t seem to see God and can’t believe He is with you, check if your eyes are covered with lies (real eyes realize real lies).

As believers, we can sense God’s presence without necessarily feeling God’s presence.

I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining. I believe in love even when not feeling it. I believe in God even when He is silent.

Anonymous

The next time you feel like God is absent, try reaching out with your spiritual senses. Affirm God is with you spiritually. Then ask the Holy Spirit to teach you about God’s truth and love.

This post is part of a series on eternal security. You can read the introductory post: eternal security means full assurance of salvation.
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

Filed Under: Secure in Christ, Core Longings, God's Kingdom, Salvation in Christ Tagged With: faith, fear, found, hide, lost, love, seek

Faith Hope and Love

December 7, 2019 by Matt Pavlik 1 Comment

What is the difference between faith, hope, and love? Why would it matter to you? It matters because you need all three for a healthy spiritual life.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV

So, love is greater, but faith and hope are important too.

Faith and Trust Fit Together

If you have faith, then you must be trusting in Jesus Christ. To trust in Jesus Christ must mean you have a vibrant faith.

But, faith comes before hope:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1 NIV

You could hope for something, but lack the faith (the confidence) that it will come to pass. That kind of hope is essentially worthless (it isn’t biblical hope). You can hope it doesn’t snow tomorrow, but nobody is going to promise you that it won’t snow.

If Jesus never promised us anything, there would be no need for hope. Faith would be enough.

Hope and Future Events Fit Together

Hope is the excitement around an anticipated event. When you have faith in Jesus, you’re able to trust His promises. You’ll have hope that what He says will eventually come true.

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?

Romans 8:24 ESV

So, you trust a person and you hope in a promise. Through faith we have hope that carries us along to the finish line. What about love?

Love Makes Faith and Hope Possible

If Jesus wasn’t full of love, He wouldn’t have provided the way for us to trust or hope in Him (Ephesian 2:8-9).

Love is the greatest because it involves action with the greatest effort and risk. Love would sacrifice everything.

Anyone can hope. Many people believe in something. They trust and have faith. Few truly love.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Filed Under: Salvation in Christ, Core Longings Tagged With: faith, fear, hope, love

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