Trusting God: Part II
Scripture proclaims that God is trustworthy (Isaiah 45:7; Lam. 3:37-38; Gen. 50:19-21; Rom. 8:28-29). God’s trustworthiness is based on who He is as demonstrated by what He does. He is the Promise-maker and Promise-keeper. Scripture answers the question that everyone faces: can you trust God? Is God trustworthy? Asked another way: is God worthy of your trust? God’s answer is a resounding yes! Man was created a faith-based being. Man’s faith has an object and man acts according to his faith. Everyone places their faith and trust in someone or something. Adam was created with the capacity and desire to trust God and to rightly interpret God, himself, and circumstances. Post-fall, instinctively, man’s first inclination is to trust self. When he does, he is acting as a fool.
In the book of Proverbs, wisdom is defined as fear of the Lord which necessitates trusting God (Prov. 1:7; 3:5-8; 9:10; 15:33; 19:23; 28:26). Overwhelmingly Scripture testifies that God is trustworthy. Yet many deny that fact by action and or inaction. Their standard for such a conclusion is not the Bible but their experience, their feelings, or their own reasoning apart from Scripture. Such was the case with Rabbi Kushner in his book: Why Do Bad things Happen to Good People. When faced with a child born with the genetic premature aging condition (progeria), he used his own experience and logic to determine if God was good and impotent or powerful and not good. His own reasoning and experience rather than Scripture were the foundation for his conclusions. He concluded that “fate dealt him an interesting hand.” Functionally, he “cut God down” to a size that fit his definition of good and bad. Such it is with many including believers. The fact is: God is wise, powerful, and good. God plans all things and works His plan. God is up to something in all things and that something is for His glory and the good of the believer.
Functionally it may be difficult to trust God. Why is that? His ways and thoughts are not ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). We don’t think or desire as God does. We are not God. But sometimes we wish we were.
We have established that God is trustworthy. God is not the problem. Do you really believe that fact and how do you act upon it? Your acceptance or rejection of the truth of God’s trustworthiness does not change the fact about God. Therefore, since God is not the problem that leaves you – the person. Remember God created man as a faith-based being. Scripture teaches that you can trust God because you are saved by grace though faith AND you are a new creature in Christ (Eph. 2:8-9; 2 Cor. 5:17). You have the capacity to think God’s thoughts, desire what he desires, and glorify and honor him by acts of the will. Moreover, you have been gifted with saving faith and enabling grace. God does not give defective gifts or make vain promises. Faith and grace are not the issue.
Failure to trust God results from a disconnect in what you are in Christ and how you function. Trust is more than simple cognition – knowing facts. Although saving faith includes knowledge about Jesus, it is more. Even the demons knew Jesus was the Son of God (James 2:19). Saving faith also involves an act of the will. You receive and accept truth that has been made desirous and understandable by the work of the Holy Spirit in you. Energized by the Holy Spirit, you act upon biblical truth in a way that honors God. Trust and obey are twin pillars of saving faith and enabling grace. Saving faith is informed and intelligent which leads to thoughts, desires, and actions that are God-pleasing. When you do trust God you are becoming more like Christ, the ultimate God-truster.
Application:
1. God is trustworthy; as a believer, you are a God-trusting person. These are non-negotiable truths. What is your response to them?
2. Write out what makes it easy to trust God.
3. Write out what makes it easy to trust self.
4. What does the cross and the resurrection have to do with trusting God (see Rom. 8:31-37).