When you can’t trace his hand, trust his heart

Happy New Year!! I'm Craig Denison, author and founder of First15.  A growing relationship with God comes when you experience him every day. So thank you so much for starting your year with us.  I’ve got a really exciting announcement with what you can expect from First15 this year.  One is, we’re expanding the writers that are contributing to the daily devotionals. There will still be a lot of content written by me, but this month we’re kicking the year off with a focus on spiritual awakening actually written by my Dad, Jim Denison. He’s one of the smartest and most heart-felt people I’ve ever known. It was a privilege growing up with him as a father. And I’m really excited for you to get to experience God with his content as a guide this month.  Along with some new content, you’ll hear a new voice on the podcast reading the days devotional. That’ll help give consistency to your experience with God, not making First15 about the author, but about creating space for God to fill.  Happy New Year. May God bless you as you seek him this morning, and every morning. -- Today we’re going to explore what it means to truly trust God. Life is full of incredibly difficult circumstances, and in the midst of disappointments and pain it can be hard to trust that he is good and loving. But thankfully, God promises us that we can trust his heart even when we can’t see his hand. Let’s look at what it means to trust God in the midst of our circumstances today. Our Scripture for today comes from Jeremiah 29:11, and today's worship is Welcome Resurrection by Elevation Worship. -- Thanks for listening to today’s First15 Podcast. My name is Ryn, and I’m a part of the First15 Team. If you haven’t downloaded our brand new First15 app, make sure to click this link  to check it out! One of the new features that you can enjoy when you download the app is our Guided Prayers. We are adding new prayers to our library every month, so if you need a moment of peace with God, let these prayers be your guide!    In today’s First15 Podcast we wanted to give you a preview of a new Guided Prayer that our friend Hannah Smith wrote titled, “Renew me with your rest.” Oftentimes when I think about rest and peace I view them as one and the same. But as I read through Hannah’s prayer, I began thinking about how often she refers to action that leads to rest and prays for the grace of God to help her find rest. The first time rest is mentioned in the scriptures is after the work of building the whole world and filling it with life was complete. Hebrews 4:11-12 says, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” I love that this set of verses makes achieving rest an actionable thing. What I really love about understanding peace and rest rightly is that we can clearly see that peace is a gift from God that helps us endure as we strive towards entering into God’s rest, and rest is the reward He gives us for having held fast to His calling. I pray today that this prayer reminds you that the work to which he has called us is holy and worthy, and that the promise of the reward of rest gives you the courage to keep going.