To trust or not to trust — Marian Fitz-Gibbon

In a fallen world, we can grow disheartened every time we catch up on world events by scrolling through the news on our various news-carrying devices. It appears the world grows darker by the day, and nations that once upheld Christian ideals now attempt to stamp out any remnant of Christian values. Yet Scripture still calls us to trust in the Lord. 

Trust in the Lord and do good,
Delight yourself in the Lord
And He’ll give you the desires of your heart
— Proverbs 37:3

Struggling to trust

We probably all could agree that struggling to trust God in these challenging times has become a matter we all face.

Yes, we know that He is a good, good Father. And that He loves us. That His words are true and that He is faithful. Yet we find ourselves still struggling.

I am not sure if this comes from loss and instability in our lives but trusting God can be the hardest thing to grasp. So instead of taking hold of Him and His goodness, we end up relying lot on our own strength. We end a day wiped out and drained, feeling as if it is up to us take care of everything. Believing if we don’t do it all then nothing will be accomplished. Voices in our head often tell us we will never measure up; we will never be strong enough. 

““You say” are lines in a song by Lauren Daigle who attests God calls us to be strong amidst our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9). When the enemy tells us we have no worth, God loves us. Amid our faults and shortcomings, because God calls us “strong” and “loved” we can believe what He says of us. God never lies. Everything I’ve encountered, every opportunity, or trial has required that I do this one thing — trust the Lord.”

The words of the song encourage us to believe that we have identity in the Lord, way beyond our own shortcomings. It’s so worth downloading this son — it uplifts one’s spirit.

Trust in relationships

Proverbs 3:5-6 states: Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Trusting God brings so many good things to us. We know where to go. We won’t be led astray.  He’ll give us the desires of our heart.

If we can be honest, I think that leaning on our own understanding has hindered some of our relationships and makes trust difficult. If we constantly lean on what we know and believe it is the truth, and don’t seek God for wisdom and understanding, then we are not trusting Him. His ways are better than ours and He knows everything from beginning to end. If we limit ourselves to our own knowledge, then we deny the work of the Holy Spirit to bring truth and the mysteries of God to us. We become captive to our small world of our limited beliefs. 

Why do we always believe that we know better? That our way is the only way? It’s frustrating that we put ourselves in these situations. How much easier life would be if we would just surrender and trust?

This year is about trust. God it slowly going to give us opportunities to work out our faith.

Perhaps you’re like me — I like to see the whole staircase before I ascend the stairs. It’s a bit like Jacob seeing the staircase and needing the supernatural to bring the divine to him while he struggled with his limitations and imperfections. 

Living in the supernatural is what we are called to do (2 Corinthians 4.18)

God is trustworthy: 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 fulfil it? — Numbers 23: 19

 Circles of trust

As the Church we should be the training centre for developing trust. We could gather in groups to create environments that foster and facilitate a high-trust culture.  

We could be one of the primary places where people can learn to trust, exercise trust, and become trustworthy because we trust God and God trusts us as partners in relieving human suffering.

If honesty, integrity, and respect were built, practiced, and strengthened in every aspect of the Church’s life, we would experience the core practices needed for repairing broken trust in our world. 

The Christian Church has a great responsibility to take risks that reinforce our trust in God. If we live in fear from broken trust, then we miss the wholeness of God’s vision for us and God’s vision for the world. In high-trust cultures, barriers are broken, and walls come crumbling down. In high-trust cultures, people step across lines of division and become beacons of hope and life to those who are wary of trust. And when trust is broken by neighbours, faithful people rise again because their whole trust is in God.

Imagine if we built circles of trust

• Where people are welcome and are safe. Their needs are met, and time is taken to consider them.
• A place where leaders are more willing to listen than wanting to fix, correct or “save” them.  
• Where we allow honest, open questions. Where it is welcomed when creative ideas and innovation get messy.
• A place to look at ideas and stories through a theological lens. To explore the intersection of universal stories of human experience with the personal stories of our lives in relation to the Scriptures and our understanding of God. 
• To explore different ways of reflection, thinking and the roles people occupy in society. 
• When a church is a safe place to grow it allows people to be honest with their fears, their beliefs, and their questions.  We must not silence people because of our judgments or judge people’s souls back into hiding because we are unwilling to hear how their beliefs, attitudes, and understandings about life might be different from our own. Broken trust often stems from fear of our own truths. 
• If honesty, integrity, and respect were built, practiced, and strengthened in every aspect of the Church’s life, we would experience the core practices needed for repairing broken trust in our world.
• An example of this could be the view on women in ministry — is a hotly-debated topic. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate is another. God in science is a critical topic. Or renewal of the mind with neural plasticity; depression and other mental illnesses, finance, and the God of abundant supply.

Trust your journey

Live in the moment, pause, be present and appreciate life’s lessons, no matter how difficult. The greatest gifts are often revealed to us through adversity. This is your journey – remember the Lord is with you every step of the way.

Music to encourage trust

Look Up Child — Lauren Daigle
You Say — Lauren Daigle

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