Trust God

At some point along our spiritual journey all Christians must learn a crucial lesson—we cannot understand everything God does or allows, so faith is indispensable. The same God who parted the sea for the Israelites led them into the dangerous wilderness (Ex. 14:21-22; Num. 33). The same God who allowed Mary to conceive supernaturally gave her the burden of seeing her son crucified. The same God who allowed the stoning of “good” Stephen raised up a murderer, the Apostle Paul, as an apostle (Paul) (Acts 9). The same God who allowed the misery of Job (Job 1:13-20), later gave him double for his trouble (Job 42:10).

We often find God’s actions perplexing. This is normal. We cannot bridge the galactic gap between God’s knowledge and ours; his thoughts and ways will always be both higher and different from ours. That means many times in our lives we will have to choose—trust God or go crazy.

For a lot of people, the idea that an omnipotent God sometimes allows awful things to happen inspires resentment and an unhealthy fear of God. It can make them feel like pawns in his hand—a powerless chess piece that can be placed in harm’s way and sacrificed for some unknown greater purpose.

But this disturbing conclusion forgets that our faith is built on love—the love of God from which nothing can separate us. If God harbored feelings of hostility towards us, we would be in deep trouble indeed. His love, however, and our knowledge of that love, gives us a sense of security, freedom, and safety, the kind that a child feels as he walks the halls of his loving father’s house.

But truth be told, trust can be incredibly difficult and terrifying. We live in a cynical and broken world and many of us have known the bitter taste of betrayal. But this is no excuse for the Christian. The call to greater and greater trust in God will always be before us for without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb.11).

The trust to which we are called is not about our feelings and emotions. It is a decision of the will—a decision we make based on our knowledge of God. That means we still move forward even when we are afraid, hurting, sad, or confused. Why? Because we know, by faith, we do not walk alone.

May God grow us all to the point where even when the “worst” happens we can say like Job, “though he slay me yet will I trust him” (Job. 13:15).

Through life’s ups and downs, let’s choose to trust Him.