WalkwithGod.com

Q.  I’ve been told that I have to do is believe and trust God right.  Someone finally got it through to me that I’ve just got to do it, to ignore everything else within me that goes against believing and trusting Him. So, I finally got it and am ready to start again.  But now someone else has told me it doesn’t work that way.  Can you help clear things up for me a little please?

A.  I like to think in terms of relationship.  Your walk with God is pretty much like any other relationship you can imagine:  you exist as a person, and God exists as a “person.”  In any relationship, one person will have questions, requests, desires or communication which he wishes to share.  He has to be open and honest to share those.  The other person responds according to their level of commitment and degree of love.

God is 100% committed to you, as evidenced by the crucified body of His Son, and He loves you more than you can comprehend.  He desires the best for you and wants to see you grow up into the image of His Son more than anything else.

Within those parameters, you get to ask Him for things, share your hopes and dreams with Him, seek His help when you need it, request His strength when you are weak, borrow from His wisdom when you are confused, and so much more.  He also gets to share His heart with you, tell you things which He wants you to do, and exercise His loving sovereignty over your life.

Much like a healthy parent-child relationship, there are times we may want something, ask for it, and not get it.  But in such cases, the issue usually boils down to wrong asking and not bad parenting.  Jesus Himself acknowledged that even though we are evil, we have a good idea about what constitutes a good gift when it comes right down to it.  And like a healthy parent-child relationship, there are times that the parent must plan, take action or bring correction to the child which may not always be understood by the child.  Trust, in those cases, leads to growth.  The idea that, “I know my parent loves me, has only sought my good and has great wisdom in guiding my life” is what prevents us from becoming bitter when things don’t go as WE planned.

So, yes, just trust Him.  If you can’t trust God, the infallible, holy, loving, gracious, merciful, compassionate, wise, all-knowing Creator, whom can you trust?