Do I Really Trust God?

REFLECTION

Trust. It is a word that is used often, especially in Christian circles. In fact, in the church, it is often used, fairly unconsciously, to propose a necessity to believe everything will turn out ok at the end of a difficult situation. But when a situation does not turn out well, the question is left lingering in one’s mind and body, even if not spoken overtly: Can God really be trusted?

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..” For followers of Jesus, the courage to admit one does NOT trust God is huge. It can also leave one with a sense of shame or frustration at one’s own inability to extend trust, especially when we feel we have “submitted our ways to him” and our paths do not yet appear straight.

But what if we took the shame and frustration out of the equation and just acknowledged the reality that extending trust in a broken world is hard. People and systems with whom we engage are broken and often not trustworthy. Trust has often been frayed and left without repair, leaving it difficult to then extend trust to others and to God.

What if we were honest about our distrust so that we could bring it to Jesus for healing and repair in a way that was gracious and patient, honoring our human experience. And what if we extended grace, patience, and understanding to others who we are inviting to trust Jesus, knowing that so many people have limited or no ability to extend trust, based on their real life experiences of broken trust. You just need to trust God sounds good, but is often not that easy.

ACTION

Take an honest assessment of your trust relationship with Jesus. Do you believe that Jesus cares for you and has your best interests in mind? Do you believe that Jesus is reliable and sincere? Are you able to fully submit yourself and your life to Jesus? And if you did, do you believe that God is competent to make your paths straight, as Proverbs says?

It may seem odd to ask these questions about our perception and beliefs about Jesus, but each of these questions is foundational in assessing our trust/distrust of Jesus. Often, even when we say we trust with our words, our hearts and our practices say something different.

If we want to practice prayerful Spirit dependency, radical trust is essential. We must acknowledge areas of distrust and then offer those gaps back as prayers to the God who is trustworthy, whether we are able to believe it or not.

Also, how would our interactions change if we honored the trust journey of others with whom we are sharing Jesus? I wonder if as followers of Jesus, we might embody the trusted presence of Jesus to our neighbors in the world around us? Reflect on how that idea would change the way we engage and show up in relationships?

For those who have experienced broken trust, especially from early ages in life, I wonder how being in relationship with a trusted follower of Jesus might shorten their journey to trust in Jesus? How can we demonstrate being trustworthy people, for the sake of Jesus in the world?

PRAYER

Jesus, we pray for you to reveal any areas of distrust in our lives. Reveal the gaps. Help us to courageously acknowledge our distrust, that we might be healed and repaired for our flourishing and for a greater experience of heaven on earth in the world. May we grow in our ability to be prayerfully Spirit-dependent in all we do. And then help and enable us to embody your trusted presence in the world around us, so that others might be able to grow in their ability to put their trust in you, too.

Much love,
Pastors Jaime and Jad Levi