Just trust God… now that’s a tall order even for a believer, let alone a nonbeliever. Just trust God. It sounds so easy. And for those that know He is worthy and capable of our trust, it should be easy, right? But its not that easy. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Dum dee dum dee dum dee dum. If you believe that trusting IS obeying then …where do I even start?
There are many things to fear in this world we live in. And its getting scarier all the time. Even the non-believers, that do not frequent themselves with the Word and its truth (that tells us the days are getting progressively darker and more difficult), can sense this is what’s happening. Its a scary world out there. But we are not to fear those things which are scary. Why not? Because God did not give us the spirit of fear- so we know where that is coming from. But how do I override my sinful, mortal nature that fears these scary things? Because I live in the reality of what is going on down here on earth. Difficult and scary is my reality. Probably yours too.
So when I tell someone, who is not a Word reader or doesn’t have a relationship with our heavenly Father, that they just need to trust God….well… it sounds ridiculous even as I say it. And, in fact, I don’t often use this approach because it sounds preposterous.
What makes you trust a friend? or a family member? or a system? or physics? What makes us walk onto a plane that weighs 735,000 lbs (346 tons) and believe that once it rises to an altitude of 35,000 ft that its going to stay in the air for 4, 9, 16 for 24 hours? But we just do. We usually don’t even think about it? Why not? Because airplanes have proven themselves over the decades. We have seen and heard of them rising and landing and crossing oceans time and time again. People walk safely off planes every day. That’s not to say there are no accidents but they are not the norm.
We trust our doctor. Why would we trust a complete stranger with our health? I mean, seriously, why? Yet, most people do whatever the Doctor tells them, because it stands to reason that after four years of undergraduate study and four years of medical school and three to eight years of residency and over $170,000 of student loan debt, that these people know what they are doing. So we trust them. They have proven themselves.
What about getting on an elevator, an escalator or a ski lift? What about driving? There are crazies on the road every single day. People that are substance abusers. People that are sleep deprived. People that are half blind. Yet we get on the freeway and trust that everyone mostly knows what they are doing and we trust the traffic systems that are put in place. If we see someone with their signal light on, then we just believe that they are planning to turn or switch lanes. We’d never be able to survive if we didn’t trust people and systems somewhat. We sit down on that chair with every belief that its going to hold us up.
What about trusting your husband or wife? They have declared undying love for you and made that huge step to commit and take responsibility for you and they have proved themselves over time and you just – trust them. Now, let’s not confuse people for God. He is trustworthy by nature and cannot be untrustworthy by character but people, in their sinfulness and mortalness (aka selfishness) can have a lapse and betray you. But for the most part, you trust your family and friends because they have proven themselves over time. They’ve been there for you. And that’s the secret. Proven trust over time. A person has to earn trust and once its broken, its very difficult to regain it. Not impossible, but difficult. We betray God all the time and He still comes through for us. He still loves us. He will still ‘never leave or forsake us” and He still hears our prayers and answers them (in the way that HE sees as wisest).
So if you have no experience of God coming through for you, ever, that you recognize, then you will not be inclined to trust Him. Even those of us, who have awareness of God coming through for them, find this trust difficult. Because we cannot see Him and many people have never felt His presence or recognized His intervention on their behalf.
I am SO grateful to declare that I have felt His presence. I have heard his voice in my life. I have seen His work on my behalf. I’ve experienced miracles and healings and other answers to prayer. So I have every reason to trust Him. Every. Single. Reason. and I still find it hard. I still want to do my own thing because I feel I know myself better than He does and I feel like I know whats best for me, because I know me. Haha. He knows me better than I know myself. Do I know how many hairs are in my head? I often believe that HE needs a little help…from me. So I do things that are better left to the Creator and most often, make a mess of things or at the very least, settle for second best or worse.
Why can’t I just trust Him when I know so much about His character and His past performance? I’m working on it. I know in my head that He is totally trustworthy. I just have to get my heart to catch up. Lord don’t give up on me yet. Or ever.
The Red Plaid Apron 