Who can you trust?

“We must cease striving and trust God to provide what He thinks is best and in whatever time He chooses to make it available. But this kind of trusting doesn't come naturally. It's a spiritual crisis of the will in which we must choose to exercise faith.”  Charles Swindoll

  So who do you really trust? Be honest…who do you really, really trust?

  I’ve been mulling this over quite a bit recently. We’re in the midst of an election year (let the incessant political ads and robo calls begin). Each candidate seeks to garner support and ultimately our vote by convincing us to trust him or her...or, at least trust them more than we trust the other guy.

  But do we? Do we really believe the campaign promises? Do we really believe they have the best interests of the American people in mind? That they will really do what’s best for the country? Probably not. Most of us, even if it’s “our” candidate tend to be very skeptical.  

  What about your employer? Do you trust them? When they tell you something, do you believe it? If they have a pension set up for you, are you confident it will be there when you finally retire? Or, what about when you purchase something? Do you believe the salesperson? That the product will perform like they say it will? Or, that they’ll honor the warranty?  

  What about your friends? When you tell a friend a secret, something in confidence, do you have a settled sense in your heart they won’t share your secret? If you loaned them money, do you have confidence they’ll really repay it…when they promised they would or even at all?

  Do you trust your family? Do you have confidence in your parents, siblings, or children? Do you believe them when they tell you something? When they say they’re going to do something that it’s going to happen?

  Hopefully, you don’t have any questions about the integrity of your spouse. The foundation of a healthy marriage is built on trust. If you can’t trust your spouse, whether it be their words, judgement or faithfulness – then your marriage has some serious cracks in its foundation.

  What about someone in spiritual authority? A pastor, deacon or a small group leader? Do you trust him or her? Do you believe they’re a person of integrity? Of honesty and that they’ll tell you the truth?

  And that’s our problem. In each sphere of our lives, we approach every connection with a huge dose of skepticism. Much of it is because, sadly, integrity is increasingly rare. Anyone who blindly trusts a politician, an employer or salesperson tends to be on the gullible side. It doesn’t help when we hear about so many who fail. Most have experienced an integrity disappointment in a close relationship. Then, some know their own lack of integrity and project their failure on others, assuming others are like them.

  Adding to our internal skepticism pool is the percentage of us who born in a home with addiction or divorce with the usual denials that surround it, and we develop serious trust issues. Lies, secrets and broken promises accumulate to send a message to a child formulating a view of life that trusting can backfire on them. Many grow into adulthood with difficulty trusting anyone. It affects relationships (romantic, professional and spiritual) with others. They’ve been disappointed so often by an addicted parent that to really allow themselves fully trust is a major hurdle for them.

  The tragic result of our fallen world caused skepticism is it ultimately contaminates our relationship with the One who said, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life” (John 14:6). Or, as Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has he said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?” Depending on what version you use, the Bible tells us to trust God some 200 times. The words translated trust in Scripture mean “a bold, confident, sure security or action based on that security.”

  Trusting means to believe the promises of God in all circumstances, even those where the evidence seems to be to the contrary. Hebrews 11 talks about faith, which is accepting and believing the truth that God reveals about Himself, supremely in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The practical outcome of faith in God is trust, which we prove by living out our full acceptance of God’s promises day by day. Wonderfully, it’s by this trust that we are promised true peace: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).

  Trusting God is a love relationship and parallels human love relationships. It’s easy to trust your spouse or a friend, when you’re in a spring season of life, when life is like a stroll in a beautiful garden with manicured lawns, a myriad of plants and flowers displaying a pallet of color. A gentle breeze blows. It’s like paradise. It’s easy to trust in that setting. But we will never receive the blessings and rewards of a life of trusting God until we learn to trust Him during the storms of suffering. In God’s Word and throughout Church History, the common link for those who have an intimate and deep relationship with God is that they trust Him in the midst of horrible suffering. It’s also what Hebrews 11 teaches us.

  For example, Brother Yun was a persecuted and later exiled Chinese pastor. After being imprisoned and weeks of torture, including electrocution, starvation, beatings, and having needles shoved under his fingernails, Brother Yun was thrown in a box which was four feet long, three feet wide and four feet high, where he’d be kept indefinitely. The day after he was put in this tiny cell, he began praying for a Bible — a ridiculous idea considering many people were in prison at that very moment for being in possession of such contraband. Yet he prayed anyway, and, inexplicably, the guards threw a Bible into his cell the next morning. He wrote: “I knelt down and wept, thanking the Lord for this great gift. I could scarcely believe my dream had come true! No prisoner was ever allowed to have a Bible or any Christian literature, yet, strangely, God provided a Bible for me! Through this incident the Lord showed me that regardless of men’s evil plans for me, he had not forgotten me and was in control of my life.”

  Is that how you would have reacted? Had I been tortured and thrown in a coffin-like cell, my reaction to receiving a Bible would have likely been more along the lines of, “Thanks for the Bible, Lord, but what I really need is to get out of this metal box!” I might have ignored Scripture and been upset at God because my “real” need and prayer request, the reduction of my physical suffering, went unanswered.

  We are too “this world” focused. Those who trust God know that suffering is not the worst evil — sin is. Yes, they’d prefer not to suffer. They pray for relief from suffering, but they prioritize it much lower than we do. They focus far more on not sinning than on not suffering. In Brother Yun’s case, he believed that in his answered prayer God was allowing him to grow spiritually and minister to his captors. His circumstances of suffering in an uncomfortable cell became almost irrelevant to him.

  That’s a spiritual reality we usually resist. I know I do. Yet, when we trust the Father in the storm; that He still loves us and we can trust Him and that passages like Romans 8:28-39 are true, it’s easier to trust Him in all of life. 

  Storms are inevitable. We may be unable to trust anyone else, we can always trust our Heavenly Father. Choose to trust Him when the wind and waves blow, then the rest of a life of trust in Him becomes smooth sailing. 

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Are we there yet?!?

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu

  I’m not a good traveler. When I was little, I hated it when our whole family would pile into the station wagon and head off for our annual vacation in Florida. I loved the destination but I despised the journey.

  I loved it when we arrived. My love for the sound of waves breaking on the beach, the smell of salt and sand, and the cries of seagulls hasn’t abated a bit in over fifty years. As we drew closer, I’d be peering out the window for that first glimpse of the ocean.

  I loved fishing in the surf, digging for sand crabs, bodysurfing the waves and building sandcastles. There’s nothing better than walking a warm, sandy beach late at night. You’d see the blinking lights of shrimp boats far off in the ocean. We’d scoop up crabs for a crab dinner who’d came floating in with high tide. We’d shine our flashlights out as far as we could see and the light would dissipate into the pitch black of the ocean.

  It really wasn’t that far of a trip, basically a day trip. We could leave Atlanta and be at our hotel in Ormond Beach in about seven hours. But for some reason, the trip just seemed to take forever. Probably, not more than thirty minutes into the drive. I’d be piping up from the very back of the station wagon, whining, “Are we there yet? When are we going to get there? How much farther?” and of course, “I have to go to the bathroom.” I loved the final destination but I hated the trip. Those seats seem to get so sticky so quickly and you felt so cramped. You could only look at comic books for so long. Remember, this was back in the Dark Ages of AM radio with few channel selections. CD’s, even cassette tapes, were unheard of. There were no monitors of laptops. I’m sure that the lack of distractions gave birth to the Alphabet Game, the Sign Game and I spy. Many a horrible yet unforgettable tune was birthed on those seemingly endless treks. My children will tell you that I tortured them on our own long family trips with ancient versions that I learned as a child of “Pine Trees” and “The Ants go marching one by one,” to name a few.

  The Bible talks a lot about being on a journey. It’s a constant them of Hebrews 11. Probably, the most noteworthy verse of travelling, and really wandering, is verse 38, “of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” Though leaving their homes, apparently because of persecution and their faithfulness to God, they wandered about with no final destination on this earth. It certainly was not a vacation, yet they also did not have a home they were ultimately headed towards.

  What’s amazing is that they did it with both joy and grace. Though in horrible circumstances, they seem to be free from the constant whining of “How much longer?” The only explanation is for their wonderful attitude is that their faith, they truly trusted God.

  What a contrast we find in the book of Numbers. It’s noteworthy that they are not called “Jews” or “Israel,” but the “children of Israel.” And they certainly live up to that allusion to childish behavior.

  Freshly released from four centuries of slavery in Egypt, just three days into the journey, the Bible tells us that they began to murmur and complain. Can’t you just hear them, whining to Moses and Aaron, over and over again, incessantly for forty years: Are we there yet? When are we gonna get there? Why is this taking so long? 

  Poor Moses. Don’t you wonder how many times he thought that leading sheep for forty years had been easier? Ultimately, Moses had no control over the situation. He couldn’t wave some magic wand and make the trip shorter. God was setting the pace. God was in the driver’s seat, not Moses.

  Like little children, though, they lacked patience and self-control. They whined and complained, despising the long wait and boredom of plodding along at what they felt was a snail’s pace.

  I’m a much better traveler than I was. I’ve learned that the journey is as important as the destination. I’ve gotten where even driving all the way through Illinois and Indiana, (seemingly, the most boring states to drive through), doesn’t bother me that much anymore. I’ve learned to pace myself and sightsee. There are some interesting and important sites along the way. I’ll listen to my favorite music or a book. I’ll read or just rest.

  In the Christian life, the journey is nearly as vital as the final destination. It’s on the journey that we learn to trust our Heavenly Father. It’s on the journey that we learn to wait and grow in patience. It’s on the journey that we learn to persevere and be steadfast, when we are tempted to bail. It’s on the journey that we learn that God is on our side even when are attacked, just as the Children of Israel were. It’s on the journey that we learn that prayer changes the outcome, not whining or pitching a temper tantrum.

  Someday our Heavenly Father will bring us Home. The very thought of heaven should fill out hearts with joy and inspire us onward in the journey with strength and true patience.

  Are we there yet? No, not yet, not quite, yet every day brings a little closer. When are we going to get there? Always in His time, at the best time. Perhaps even sooner than we would expect.

  I have to think that like any loving parent, our loving God must want us Home even more than we want to be Home. Yet, there is work to do, lost people to reach, and a Savior to follow down the winding road of days and years. When we finally turn into heaven’s driveway and see King Jesus waiting at the open door, the long drive won’t seem so long at all.

  By God’s grace, let’s choose to trust Him and not be like spoiled children. Let’s be like Abraham and the heroes and heroines in Hebrews 11, not like those whiners in the desert who brought distress to their leaders, and grief and anger to their God. We enjoy the journey “by faith,” when we trust Him. If the journey is frustrating you, that’s a good indication that you need to grow in faith.