Monday, March 01, 2010

Knowing Precedes Trusting

Have you ever had a hard time trusting God? Yeah, me too. Maybe you need to trust God for the healing of a fractured relationship or perhaps you're waiting on Him to provide a better job. Sometimes trusting God is just plain hard, isn't it?

Several years ago, when I was going through a difficult time, I was struggling to trust God when I happened upon this verse from Psalm 9:10

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

For those who are truly acquainted with God's character and nature, trusting Him becomes the natural conclusion. At the time, this verse spoke to the heart of my problem - trusting God wasn't simply about "naming and claiming" or mustering more faith mojo. It's all about knowing...because knowing precedes trusting. My problem was that I didn't rightly perceive God. I didn't know His name - I had a very limited view of His true nature and character. I thought of Him as a sovereign ruler but not as one who is also kind, gracious and committed to bring about good things in my life.

Where do you start on this journey of growing in faith and trust toward God? Here are three things I've found helpful -

1. Start with reading the Bible. God is uniquely revealed to us through Scripture and reading God's word will help shape our perception of God.
2. Meditate on His character. It's not enough just to read... we ought to let the revelation of God through Scripture take root by meditating on His revealed character
3. Cultivate faithful friendships. Growing in trust toward God is a community project - you need friends to remind you of who He is, especially in the midst of trials and tribulations of life.

3 comments:

Dena Dyer said...

Thanks for this. I needed the reminder about WHY we should trust God. :) And welcome to the HCB community--you'll find it a warm, thoughtful place--I hope.

Rachel Mc said...

This post really is appropriate to me at this point in my life. I am having a hard time trusting God but not because I don't believe in him or because I don't believe in his power. I have trouble trusting God because I can't seem to believe that he would want to help me or even think my needs are important. I have even been hesitant to pray about what I think would help me out during this time....it seems to me that the more I try to trust God the lonelier I feel. Not sure if this makes sense...thanks for the post and the scripture, I will write it down and carry it with me and think about it.

Every Square Inch said...

Dena - thanks for stopping by. I love HCB - great community of thoughtful Christians...and warm too!

Rachel - I definitely understand where you're coming from. And I think your experience is really typical. If you believe in God, you tend assume His power and sovereignty. What most of us struggle with is an understanding of His nature, especially as it relates to us. That's why just fighting to trust God must center around getting to know Him. If we really grew in our knowledge of God, trusting Him would be almost inevitable.