Trust – it is an easy thing to lose and a hard thing to gain. (Elgin axiom) I would venture to say that everyone reading this has had trust in someone or something compromised at some point in their life. For some it has happened more than once, sadly for some, much more than once. When that happens, there is something in your heart that feels violated – broken even. My guess is that if I could listen to the stories of misplaced trust, they would be legion and they would be heart breaking.
The other day, I had someone say to me, “I trust you.” Wow! That means, they believe that I have their best interest in mind and would do nothing to harm them. What a gift and what a responsibility. Someone who trusts you – their heart is like a fragile flower. You must be careful how you handle it. I just signed one of my books, and no, in case you are wondering, I have not been contacted by the New York Times about my book. But then personal fame was not my motivation for writing it – saying yes to the Spirit of God and desiring that God would be glorified and someone would turn their life toward God – that was my motive. But I digress. When I signed the book I added a reference to Jeremiah 29:11.
“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” – Jeremiah 29:11
Plans to prosper you and not to harm you …. That is why we trust God and others, isn’t it? We believe that God and others have our best in mind and do not intend to hurt even one petal of our hearts. When you read Proverbs 3, that truth is the undercurrent behind the plea from God through Solomon, the writer of the Proverb. Sadly, Solomon did not follow his own advice. God is faithful and will never violate your trust. That cannot be said of mortal men and women. Placing your trust in someone means that you make yourself vulnerable to them. People can harm you and often do, but the promise that they would not harm is always there, either spoken, implied or perhaps hoped for.
I have heard many times that women have a hard time trusting God because they have been hurt – their trust misplaced and violated – by men – friend – husband – father. Curious isn’t it, that we consider God in light of what men do and not in light of what Jesus did when it comes to trust.
This is the thing – if you don’t trust then you won’t obey. For God – obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). Why? Because at the root of obedience is trust and at the root of trust is faith and at the root of faith is love. It is by faith that we are justified and we are saved. Why is it that we can trust God for salvation but cannot trust Him for the issues of our mortal lives?
Jesus said if we are to follow Him we must deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow Him. (Matthew 16:24) Trusting Him to lead. Trust precedes obedience. Obedience is a demonstration of our trust and faith. If you don’t fully trust God then you will not obey Him. Struggling with obedience? With sin? You are having a trust problem. If you have a trust problem then you have a faith problem. If you have a faith problem then you have a love problem. Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me? Then show Me by the way you live your life by faith and the power of the Spirit.” (My paraphrase of John 21:15-19) He is asking us the same question.
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