Let’s start off this piece with an exercise, shall we? I’m going to give you a few verses about trust, and I want you to see if you can spot the difference between our idea of trust and God’s idea of it.
1) We’ll start off with a classic: Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
2) Here’s another one: Psalm 71:1
“In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be put to shame.”
3) Okay, oneeee more: 2 Corinthians 3:4-6
“And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient ourselves, to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.”
Trusting God doesn’t need an emotional prerequisite.
What if I told you that trust is something that we try to make an emotion? It’s not something we are supposed to feel, but it is, in fact, something we are commanded to do. Whenever trust is mentioned in the Bible, it’s never on the condition that we must “feel” like trusting God, but God always gives us a reason we should and, more importantly, why we can. The effort it takes to muster up the “feeling” of trust can be so exhausting. Trying to check off the behaviors of those around us that we consider trustworthy, and the underlying fear that one day, they’ll break that trust anyway. It’s almost as if we set ourselves up to develop trust issues. I understand those feelings of mistrust; I’m sure we’ve all been there before. But, somehow, we end up finding ourselves trusting once again in hopes that we won’t get hurt. If you’re that person who has maybe, given up, or you’re ready to just forget about the whole trust thing, it’s possible to trust without fear or regret; it all starts with trusting God.
Remember that trust isn’t a feeling; it’s something God calls us to walk in every day.
I recently had a conversation with someone who expressed how drained they’d felt from their constant efforts in mending their broken relationship with their parents. When they looked to me for a response, I asked them this question: “Do they want to give up, or do they trust God enough to try again when the opportunity presents itself?” I’m sure you can see the juxtaposition between how we feel and God’s instruction to trust Him regardless of how we feel. It’s not easy, it’s not comfortable, and it’s definitely not ideal, but when we make the choice to trust God, our efforts to pursue peace with others (Heb.12:14) become easier because you’ve let God handle it, and you can have faith that you won’t be forsaken in doing that (Psalm 9:10).
Maybe you’ve experienced one (or a few) too many broken promises. Perhaps you’ve been let down from time to time, either by someone else or yourself. Some of you may even struggle with trusting yourself. I want you to take that trust, that broken, bruised, bewildered trust, and place it in the Lord. After all, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in people (Psalm 118:8). Not that He has to, but for the sake of your ability to trust freely, live faithfully, and love your neighbor wholeheartedly, let God prove His faithfulness to you. Use Psalm 31:1 as your go-to prayer whenever your trust gets tested. Let Him prove to you just how much you can trust Him without fear.
