Copyright by Shea Oakley
All rights reserved.
Trust comes hard. We do not naturally trust God. To put our lives in His hands is a decision we must make, and it often is not the easiest of decisions.
The result of the Fall is a dangerous world inhabited by sometimes dangerous people. One danger that every human being faces is the possibility of betrayal. At one time or another most, if not all, of us have been betrayed by someone we once trusted. We have known the pain that comes when someone we loved and looked up to has sinned against us, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Beyond that we have been betrayers ourselves, hurting those whom we should never hurt because it is in our fallen nature to do so.
These betrayals we suffer, or make others to suffer, cloud our view of life. Human beings learn to distrust. With age idealism often gives way to cynicism. Whatever degree of innocence we had as children is progressively lost as the World, the Flesh, and the Devil teach us that people are just not safe, not trustworthy.
Then we meet Jesus. If we truly come to know Him our perception begins to change. Over time, as He proves Himself faithful to us, some of the cynicism starts to fade. New Christians slowly come to realize that, even if people remain unfaithful, one Person will never betray them. This often does not happen overnight, especially if we have been deeply betrayed by someone very close to us. It is a sometimes slow moving process, this learning how to trust again, slow and not always steady. Others continue to betray us in big and small ways and we do the same to them, though hopefully not with the regularity we did before becoming believers. It often seems like two steps up and one step back as we daily seek to put our trust in God.
Every day trust issues arise. Every day we must make the decision to put those issues in His hands. It isn’t easy at first, but His ongoing faithfulness makes it easier as we learn to rely on that faithfulness. Thank God that He is willing to help us increasingly trust Him over a lifetime, knowing that it often takes that long for old wounds to heal. Thank God that His love helps us to make the right decision each time we are called to trust Him.
Thank God that He is trustworthy.