Photo by Canva
Click here to see the Instagram series.
Click here to see other posts in this series.
What does it mean to trust in God? In the context of the series, it often means that I have to trust that whatever He allows into my life comes from a heart love for my best. He is not trying to do harm to me or be vindictive in any way. Just as a parent will not allow a child to have something they want that is not good for them or may allow them to have pain from shots to prevent their having a horrible disease. So, our heavenly Father allows comparatively minor pain for us now to prevent more serious pain later, or grow depth in us.
Learning to trust God is a process. It is not automatic. We need to learn about God from His Word as well. We also need to learn about His promises.
This is all part of learning to trust God. It isn’t automatic or that we would be robots. It is something we learn as we get to know God and get to know more about Him. It is the same with human relationships. We develop trust over time as we spend time with a person. As we spend time with God, we get to know more about Him from HIs Word, and experience Him, we learn to trust Him more. But without His Word to enlighten us, we would not know much about who He actually is.
Have you had negative examples in a father or husband? It will impact your ability to trust God…or anyone, for that matter.
But that isn’t an excuse for you or me to not trust God or others. God is just going to grow us in that area. Think of our human examples of trust. Those examples of a father or a husband. Think of how those examples have been ruined in the lives of so many women due to abuse: emotional, physical and/or sexual. If you never understood it before, do you now understand why those experiences are so damaging in those relationships? They hurt women in the two core relationships of their lives.
Of course, not every woman experiences them in both, but when you consider the statistics that one in four women have experienced abuse in her life in at least one of those relationships, it is a sad statistic. Even sadder, is the fallout in terms of broken lives that result. It is a generational sin, affecting the next generation in negative ways. Brokenness begets brokenness. You also know that abuse statistics are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many who don’t come forward to tell their stories. In other words, the statistics are probably worse.
One outcome is a large group of people who find it impossible to trust anyone, even God. Maybe especially God. It is especially important that we school ourselves on the truth of who He is, recognizing that He is very different from our experience of an earthly father or husband.
We need to learn how much God is different from us as humans. He is not simply a really good human. He transcends that. HE IS GOD! He is His own different category.
He can be trusted. He will not surprise us by attacking us when we least expect it. He will care for us. He is not moody, but doesn’t change. He can be depended on in His steadiness. He is not prone to angry outbursts for no reason. He is just, infinitely just. There is not a point in which He isn’t just or fair. He is loving, yet His love for us is totally balanced with His justice. He can be trusted.
But in trusting Him, that doesn’t mean everything will always go the way I want. The thing about God is that He is bigger than I or my world or my generation or my nation or my century or my nationality. He created everything. He sees and knows everything from the very beginning and He was here before that! He is eternal. On top of that, He sovereign over all of it.
Here are some Bible passages to take into account out of many, as we think about whether we can trust God. More are mentioned in the Instagram challenge I have linked above. It is nearly over but is running daily on weekdays in the month of October.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.Psalm 103:13-14 ESV|
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.II Peter 3:8-9 ESV
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.Isaiah 55:8-9
