Trust
Perhaps one of the hardest things to do is trust someone or something when all that’s ever happened to you in the past is having trust broken in your life. It’s much easier to trust no one and rely completely on yourself in those times. It’s easier to know what you have control over and manage that by itself instead of letting someone or something else in the picture you can’t control. We all face these problems with people and, I believe, we face these problems with God (some of us more than others).
I have major trust issues… not so much with people but with God. Everything stems from that because if I trusted God completely I would have no worries over my life or where anything was heading. The definition of trust that I found is very interesting: “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” I think that all of those points are very important in trusting God:
- Do I believe God is reliable?
- Do I believe God is true and that He tells the truth and He is who He says He is?
- Do I believe God is able?
- Do I believe in the overall strength of God… is He big enough to help me and do what is best for me? (Yes, 3 and 4 are the same but it’s one thing to say God is able to do one thing and another to say God is able to do all things).
Honestly I still struggle with all of this… after a terrible winter I had to ask these questions because I just wasn’t sure any more. Is God who He says He is? Is He really going to hold to His promises or am I out of luck? Because I didn’t know the answers to these questions (I’m talking real answers not churchy sayings and cliches) I realized I couldn’t trust other people… after all if I can’t trust the God of this universe, who is the only Being who can love me unconditionally, how can I trust other people? I didn’t trust my church leadership and I didn’t trust someone who was close to me. But all I had to do was learn to trust in God and all that would fall into place. I gave my life to Him… my life was bought for a price and it is no longer mine. I have to trust that my Lord will lead me where I need to be… it’s not always going to be easy and it will be painful but in the end nothing could replace the reward I’ll get (I have to know what that is and believe that too). After all… hope that is seen is not hope.
So what do we do about this trust issue? With God it would be foolish not to trust… look at the story of Abraham. His whole life is about trusting God and believing in God’s promise (you really should read the whole story in Genesis 12 through 25)… God tells Abraham He will raise up His people through Abraham but the man had no children until he was over 100 years old… God held true even though it was certainly not on man’s timing. As for trusting other people let me say this: people will betray your trust because we are all selfish and prone to depravity. Even the one you love most can and might betray your trust. So do we not trust? Of course not! Trust anyways knowing that it is more loving to trust them and risk betrayal than to bury your heart away from them and have it die in your own selfishness. Sure your heart will be safe there but it will never grow and it won’t be able to love. Trusting will be a challenge but it will be worth it.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” ~ Proverbs 3:5-6 (Emphasis mine)
