Trust or Mistrust?
Do we really trust God?
A part of our spiritual formation and maturity is learning to trust God totally. Most of us have a “mixed bag” when it comes to trusting God. We have fully trusted him for our salvation - which we sometimes doubt (see below). But when it comes to trusting God completely, do we really? Or, are we like the father in Mark 9 who had a demon passed son?
So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. "How long has this been happening to him?" Jesus asked his father. "From childhood," he said. "And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "'If you can'? Everything is possible for the one who believes." Immediately the father of the boy cried out, "I do believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:20-24 CSB)
"I do believe; help my unbelief!" That is the delima that many of us have from time to time. We trust God, but then there come these lingering thoughts? Is God really in control? How can God allow that to happen? Am I really sure this is God’s will?
Yes, we all struggle with trusting God from time to time! Why?
We are fallen human beings who have inherited our first ancestors distrust of God. They did not trust what he said was true.
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You can't eat from any tree in the garden'?" But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, 'You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.'" "No! You will certainly not die," the serpent said to the woman. "In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1,3-5 CSB)
And ever since, people have had trouble trusting God. I see five main areas where trusting God is often hard.
Our salvation
Am I really “saved?” We have made a faith commitment to God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We walk in assurance for a while, but something happens in our life and the Evil One plants the seed - “Maybe your faith commitment wasn’t real after all.” So, we begin to doubt our salvation.God’s response to our prayers
We pray and pray for a certain situation or person and things do not go as we asked for. The person does not leave their destructive lifestyle or are not healed. We begin to think that God does not hear our prayers. How can we trust God if he doesn’t even hear our prayers?Life events
Why did this have to happen? Why did one of the persons that I loved so much have to die? Why did I have to get into that wreck? Why did I have to get laid off? Why? Why? Why?Political/cultural situations
We look at our world and we see it deteriorating. We see cultural changes and lifestyles that are rapidly moving away from any semblance of honoring God. Why is God allowing the world to deteriorate the way it is?Knowing God’s will
We think that we know God’s will. We set a course of action but things do not turn out way we expected. “God, I am sure that this is the decision(s) that you wanted me to make. If so, why is this happening. Why is this do difficult?”
What are we do with these thoughts of doubt and mistrust?
We must settle in our minds three basic facts about God’s character. No matter what we think or feel about what God does or allows to happen, these three facts remain true. When we begin not to trust God, we can step back and reflect upon these three facts about God that have been, are now, and alway will be true!
God is sovereign!
God is the supreme authority and everything in the universe is under his direction and control. There is absolutely nothing that happens in the universe that is outside of his influence and authority. This does not mean that God causes everything to happen or that he usurps our free will. It does mean, however, that God allows everything to happen the way that it does. He could, but often does not, intervene in the things that happen in our lives and in the world.
God is always right!
God is righteous! This means that his God sets the standard of righteousness. He always knows and does what is completely and forever right. We may think, “God how could you do this or that? Or, how could you allow this to happen? Within his eternal majesty and knowledge, God always knows and does what is right!
God is Incomprehensible!
God is beyond our understanding as human beings. He is the creator. We are his creation. Every truth we can learn about God comes only as a result of Him revealing it to us. We can never fully understand why he does what he does, unless he somehow lets us know. The Apostle Paul said…
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! (Romans 11:33 NLT)
Faith is the key to accepting these three truths and the things of God. Faith that is a gift given to us from God himself, so that we can trust him. When we begin not to trust God in any area of our life, we must cry out like the father in Mark 9 - "I do believe; help my unbelief!" However, we must go a step beyond declaring before God our mistrust. We must ask Holy Spirit to give us the faith to trust. Trusting God often does not make sense from our viewpoint, but we must come to agree with the words of Robert Browning in his poem, “Pippa Song.”
God's in His heaven,
All's right with the world!
All is right with the world, not because of what is currently happening in our lives or in the world itself, but because God is sovereignly in control over everything and his actions are alway right - no matter what!
May God richly bless you as you lean hard into him this week. If thoughts of doubt or mistrust come, remember that God loves you more than you can imagine. Not only is his character incomprehensible, his love is incomprehensible!