Trust That Grows Slowly - Your Nightly Prayer - January 23rd

Trust That Grows Slowly
Your Nightly Prayer
 by Dr. James Spencer

TONIGHT'S SCRIPTURE

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” -Proverbs 3:5

SOMETHING TO PONDER

Winter has a way of changing our travel plans. Not long ago, my daughter and I were driving home from one of her gymnastics meets. The drive was supposed to take two hours, but winter weather, combined with a series of accidents, brought traffic to a complete standstill. Our routine road trip turned into six long hours on the road.

Surprisingly, the time in the car was peaceful. Traffic wasn’t inching along. It was completely stopped. I couldn’t change lanes or make a U-turn and go home some other way. We were stuck. So, my daughter and I talked, laughed, and sat quietly together. She even took a nap. The usual distractions of travel faded away. Winter slowed everything down. It created space to be present, attentive, and still.

Winter’s slowdowns aren’t always an inconvenience. They can be an opportunity. They can give us time we wouldn’t ordinarily take to be together with those we love and, more importantly, to spend time with the Lord. 

Proverbs 3:5 calls us to trust the Lord with all our hearts and to resist the urge to lean on our own understanding. That temptation—to lean on what we can see, predict, and control—feels strongest when conditions are favorable. But winter often exposes our limitations. Detours appear without warning. Timelines stretch. Outcomes remain unclear. In the winter, we recognize just how dependent we are on God to care for us and how that dependence is beneficial to us. 

Proverbs doesn’t condemn understanding. We should pursue our own understanding, but we shouldn’t make it ultimate. Our understanding has its place, but it was never meant to carry the full weight of our lives. Trusting God with all our hearts means allowing his wisdom, not ours, to be the foundation upon which we stand. It means acknowledging that God sees the whole road, even when we can only see what’s immediately in front of us.

Winter trust is often quiet. It does not announce itself with bold declarations or dramatic breakthroughs. More often, it looks like steady faithfulness. It looks like prayer when answers feel delayed. It looks like obedience when clarity is lacking. It looks like patience when progress slows to a crawl. 

There is also a particular grace in these slowed-down seasons. When life moves quickly, we often miss what God is doing in us and around us. But winter creates space for reflection. It invites us to listen more carefully, to speak more honestly, and to rest more fully in God’s presence. Like that long drive home, winter may make certain activities more challenging, but it can also be a place of unexpected peace.

God does some of his deepest work in these seasons. Trust that is cultivated in winter does not depend on ideal conditions. It is resilient, grounded, and enduring. It is the kind of trust that carries us not only through winter, but into whatever season comes next.

This evening, you are not asked to rush toward resolution or demand immediate clarity. You are invited to trust. You are invited to place your trust in the God who is faithfully guiding you home.

YOUR NIGHLY PRAYER

Lord,
Teach us to trust you with all our hearts, especially when our understanding feels insufficient, and the road ahead is not what we expected. When our lives slow down, help us to notice your presence and rest in your care. Help us to set aside our need for control so that we can depend on you and your wisdom. When progress feels stalled, and answers feel distant, remind us that you are still at work. Cultivate in us a quiet, daily trust that endures through uncertainty and prepares us for the future. Guide us, sustain us, and give us peace as we place our lives fully in your hands.
We pray these things in Jesus’ name,
Amen.

THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON

1. A time when life slowed unexpectedly and forced you to wait. How did that season reveal where you were placing your trust?

2. Moments today when you leaned on your own understanding rather than resting in God’s wisdom. What might quiet trust look like in those situations?

2. Evidence of God’s faithfulness in past winter seasons. How does remembering his care and provision help you trust him more fully now?

Reflect on tonight’s prayer and share how God met you there. Join the Your Nightly Prayer discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Jacob Wackerhausen

James Spencer earned his PhD in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and an MA in Biblical Exegesis from Wheaton College. By teaching the Bible and theology, as well as evaluating modern social, cultural, and political trends, James challenges Christians to remember that we don’t set God’s agenda—He sets ours. James has published multiple works, including Serpents and Doves: Christians, Politics and the Art of Bearing Witness, Christian Resistance: Learning to Defy the World and Follow Christ, Useful to God: Eight Lessons from the Life of D. L. Moody, Thinking Christian: Essays on Testimony, Accountability, and the Christian Min, and Trajectories: A Gospel-Centered Introduction to Old Testament Theology. His work calls Christians to an unqualified devotion to the Lord. In addition to serving as president of Useful to God, James is a member of the faculty at Right On Mission and an adjunct instructor at Wheaton College Graduate School. Listen and subscribe to James’s Thinking Christian podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Life Audio.

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