Week 5: Man vs. God

Who Do You Trust More?

Who do you put your trust in more?

Life’s circumstances can cause us to depend on man for the results we’re looking for. When I say “man,” I am not referring to a specific gender—I’m including women as well. “Man” refers to mankind as a whole.

Let me explain why I bring this up.

As I reflected on myself, I realized that I believed the answer to having a prosperous, whole, and non-judgmental life was marriage. I thought that if I could solidify myself with a man, I would be free from judgment. Because I had a child out of wedlock—and another in a similar situation—I saw marriage as my cover-up.

But God said, “No.”

Becoming a wife is a desire of mine, but my perspective was distorted. Deep down, I wanted marriage for sex, pleasure, and a movie-like romance. I thought believing in that kind of love would lead me to a fairytale life—a beautiful marriage with children.

But even deeper than that, I wanted marriage for security, protection, and love from a man—things I never consistently had physically. And in the moments I did experience it, it was temporary.

Marriage began to look like the solution to the darker parts of me—a lonely girl standing on the thin line of depression, anxiety, and doubt. A girl who had allowed the enemy access to whisper lies for far too long:

“You won’t ever be a wife." This is how your life is going to end—a single mother of two.” “No one will want you.” And the worst one: “You’ll stay here.”

Those lies taunted me for so long that I allowed them to sabotage my relationships, creating more distance than necessary. I allowed those whispers to wrap around me tighter and tighter, producing more doubt and anxiety. It became suffocating—so tight that I almost gave up.

Those thoughts could have drowned me in a pool of lies.

But God.

I depended on the presence and responsibility of a man to keep me going in life, when in reality, I needed to depend on Christ. And I still do.

It hurts to go through the same cycles repeatedly—especially when they involve heartbreak. Even at 24 years old, I’ve experienced what it feels like to be a hopeless romantic. I took any form of attention as love. Phone calls, conversations, laughter, and time spent together—that’s what I believed love was.

But love is so much more.

I looked to men as the answer to my problems, but they are not. All people—mankind—will disappoint, fail, lie, and hurt you at some point. And I placed far too much expectation on them.

Realizing that not even a child could instantly change someone made me understand something deeper: there is nothing we can do to change a person’s heart. That decision belongs to them. Situations may influence change, but ultimately, it comes down to their willingness.

What is the motive? What is the reason behind the desire to heal?

Understanding that mankind cannot fully satisfy me made room in my heart for the One who can.

And His name is Jesus.

He is the only one who can truly heal and fill the broken places in your heart. He is the one who can restore your mind and deliver you from the pain you’ve been holding onto. We often expect people to heal us, but the more we depend on them to do what only God can do, the more we end up hurt.

This is not to say people are not meant to be in our lives. It’s our perspective of who we believe they are that needs to shift.

As one of my sisters reminded me, the Bible says God is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14), and we are to have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3).

So we must ask ourselves:

Are we expecting people to do what only God can do? Are we expecting miracles from man instead of the God who placed the blessing in their hands? Are we focusing more on who can bless us rather than trusting the One who provides?

Yes, God uses people to bless us—but it is not them. It is God, and God alone.

God is more powerful than anyone we could ever place our trust in.

I had placed my trust in man for far too long. Now, it is time to truly see what God can do in my life—to be open and watch His hands cover me, mold me, and heal the trauma I once left unaddressed.

It is time to lift my head off of man’s shoulder and fix my eyes on God.

At the end of it all, the Lord knows what I desire—what I cry out for—just like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet, even in that place, I come to surrender and say, “not my will, but Your will be done” (Luke 22:42).

It hurts—but I know He has a greater purpose.

I may cry—but I know He is El Roi (Genesis 16:13), the God who sees me. The God who knows all. The God who is omnipotent and omniscient. He sees my future. He knows what I cannot see.

And that alone is enough to trust Him.

I am choosing to put my pride aside and allow God to do the work within me so that I can receive His blessings properly and live according to His will and His vision for my life.

We must trust Him in every area. He is not a God who works in one part of our lives and not another.

He does it all.

So trust God. And take the time to know Him for who He is—not just for what He can do.

Who do you trust more? God… or man?