Trust Me
More and more I am drawn to this one idea: that trusting God is absolutely foundational to life. When Jesus says, “Believe in me” He is talking about trusting Him. Trust Him to know how life is supposed to work. Trust that He knows what He is talking about when He says, “Love those who hate you.” Trust that He knows what we need and that He cares about what we need.
So much of what drives us are those underlying assumptions we hold about who God is, how Good He might be, how much of that Good He will commit toward us, how much He cares, and how much we can trust Him with our lives. David Benner asks us to “Imagine God thinking about you. What comes to God’s mind as He regards you?” Sadly, a significant majority of Christians think God is deeply disappointed in them. When we feel that disappointment (even if it’s not true) trust doesn’t even come up for a vote. We are way more concerned with covering up and hiding our heart from God.
In thinking about this, I’m more and more convinced that trust is something that arises quite naturally when two other things are present. First, we need to be completely convinced of the goodness in that other one whom we would trust. Their goodness is what makes them safe and trustworthy. The second condition is that the good person needs to know us and what the best good for us. When I am fully known by someone who is good through and through and they like knowing me and want to be with me, I am all about trust!
So for my part, my first task is to seek to know who God is in all his goodness. If I’m not convinced, I need to ask Him why I’m not convinced and for Him to reveal to me what I need in order to know Him as Good. And second, I need to know that I am fully known by Him and regarded well by Him. Like the writer of Psalm 139 who gladly invites God to search him head to toe and to know anything and everything about him. Because God is good. Being known by Him is good.
And once we can trust God with all our heart, everything else changes!