If we trust someone to do something for us, we rely on them and we expect what we wanted done will be achieved. Quite often, what we request, is something we can’t do ourselves and we rely on someone more qualified, with more expertise than we possess, to perform the task for us.
Sometimes, we tend to labour over particular problems, we worry, we even lose sleep in the process of trying to work out ways to resolve our difficulties. The old saying of people ‘tearing out their hair’ may even be real in extreme cases.
It is strange how we are inclined to do an initial assessment of our requirement and even decide how we might achieve the end result, should we have to perform a particular task. But because we are not sure and don’t possess the right skills, experience or knowledge we decide to place our faith in an expert, who we know will not only complete our task, but do so in a much more professional manner than we could have performed.
If we are going to trust someone, we prefer that person to be someone we know well. And that is why sometimes we might be reticent to bypass what we see as our own capabilities to rely on someone we barely know that has been referred to us by a friend.
And so it is with our faith in God. Can we really trust our God, who we are told is with us at all times, to resolve our particular problems and daily issues? Maybe, we are not totally confident that our God even listens to us, or would be prepared to sort out our problems. Perhaps, this is because God doesn’t yet fit into our ‘well respected, reliable’ category or we feel we ourselves might have a better grasp of how our problems should be resolved.
If the shoe was on the other foot, as the saying goes, does our Creator trust us? Well, for starters, we have been created in an environment where we are considered ‘royal stewards.’ We have been given each other and the whole earth to care for and protect. When we look at how we are damaging our earth and the inhumanity we show to each other, I wonder if we really understand the enormity of this trust that has been given to us?
If we feel we have to know someone really well to place our total trust in them, then maybe we need to have a closer relationship with our Creator which will enable us to trust our God more often than we do at present.
I’m Peter Mack and that’s faith.