Once upon a time, I trusted no one.
I couldn’t trust and my reasons
Were countless and incontestable.
I was convinced it was all their fault
But now I know a little better:
That life is a misery without trust.
Just like without faith, you can’t
See God, without trust, you can’t
Enjoy love so I made the choice,
To let God be true and circumstances
Liars. I choose to trust God and let Him
Teach me, guide me, help me
With who, when and how far to trust
Some of us have taken such dangerous hits that it is really hard to let down your guard and let another drive you where they will. We feel justified to be on guard, to look out for ourselves, protect ourselves, defend ourselves – it is the least we can do for ourselves. Nevertheless, in spite of all the right sounding reasons, nothing justifies or compensates for living suspicious of everyone and everything. It is a terrible way to live.
In the absence of trust, fear is rife and rest is rare. And what is a life that is devoid of relaxation, because you fear someone would take a swing at your neck at the slightest opportunity? That is not to say we should live lackadaisical, there will always be people seeking opportunities to exploit. And possibly, every once in a while if we don’t watch it, we are bound to get caught and hurt. Nevertheless, that does not imply that life should therefore be lived, constantly on our toes, looking behind our shoulders, wondering who is coming at us and when. God has not called us to fear.
That also can be translated to God has not called us to distrust. Instead, He encourages that we live as innocent as doves but as wise as serpents, especially in these desperate times. Don’t become toast on another man’s plate and at the same time, don’t live so worked up about what everyone is up to and who is out to do you in. First and foremost, we must learn to trust in a power beyond us and those with whom we deal – the omnipotence of the Omnipresent.
When we know that God has our back, we breathe easy. When we are confident that He is not only able to look out for our good, but that He also can be trusted to deliver on that, rest blossoms as an attractive possibility. From this position of rest, it is easy to see where His fingers are leading, identify those whom He brings along our path, understand that He wants us to learn with them: to practice the investment of our trust. Someone may ask, “Is it possible to miss it even with God’s leading?”
If you follow my earlier statement – God is leading us to learn, to invest our greatest resource, which is trust. Yes, we may miss it and get hurt but the intent is not to drive us back into our shells. The purpose is that we may learn sensitivity with this expensive resource – that it shouldn’t be thrown around anyhow. When we miss it, we learn boundaries and limits and we know better, how far to go with each person.
There are people to whom my heart is open, all the way. They can come in and go out, they can bring in and take out – that’s the extent of that trust but it is not so with everybody. With the different levels of relationships, comes different levels of trust. We miss it when we pour in or expect more than the other is capable of. God by His Spirit, like the Father that truly cares, like the Teacher that wants us to become experts in discernment, leads us and allows us to experiment with our trust so that we can learn and grow thereby.
However it goes, whenever and wherever God leads us, the result is always for our enrichment and maturity. I have lived inside myself where I was the only one I trusted. At that time, I felt that I trusted God, I loved Him with all my heart and served Him with all I had. Yet, it never occurred to me that life is not meant to be lived that way. Life is meant to be shared and you cannot share without trust. You cannot trust another until you have learned to trust God. Until we are confident in our trust for God, only then can we truly trust another through God and not be worried if we eventually get disappointed or not. Why? Because we trust God absolutely and we know without doubt that He is in control, and that He is working all things, good or bad, together for the best.
When we trust God, we let Him. When we let God, He lets us explore with our trust. And when we explore, we make awesome discoveries, that life is richer and better, when shared in trust. And when we trust, we quit looking back and forth for who is about to get us. Trust ushers us into the rest of God where we know what we know and relax in what we know; that God is able, that God is trustworthy, and that in spite of the untrustworthy people on planet earth, there are so many people that can be trusted, with whom we can enjoy a greater and more fulfilling life. May you know the rest in trust, amen.
Glory!