Back in the days when Lisa and I were blessed to lead the Youth Group, we used to do all sorts of trust-building exercises with the kids.
One of the classic ones is when you blindfold someone and have them stand on a chair. Then you tell them that you would like them to fall backwards into the arms of a group of people who have promised to catch them. The premise of course is whether they are willing to trust their peers with their wellbeing.
On various occasions, it pleased the youth to have me be the one to fall backwards. And they took particular delight in teasing me that they were going to let me fall onto the mat-covered floor. And even though I knew that they were going to catch me, it was still difficult for me to let myself fall into their arms. Some of this was related to just falling backwards off a chair, but most of it was because I was blindfolded and could not see where I was falling. I so wanted to control my fall to ensure that I would land directly in the center of those waiting arms. But without sight I couldn’t do so.
When it comes to trusting God, we face similar challenges. Since we can’t see what’s ahead, we have to trust that He will help us to land in the right spot. And since trusting Him can sometimes feel like we are just falling backwards, we have to trust that He will catch us. And then of course, we have to deal with our own desire to control everything, even when we can control very little.
Yet God understand all this. He knows it is hard to trust Him since we can’t see, hear, or touch Him. And He also knows that in the back of our minds, we wonder if He’ll bring about the results we desire. For example, when we trust Him with our health, we wonder if He still might allow us to get sick. Or when we trust Him with our finances, we wonder if He still might allow us to come up short on our bills. Or, when we trust Him with our relationships, we wonder just how much He might allow the sin that is in us to have its way, and thus nothing will get better.
But as much as there are some parallels between various trust-games and what it is like to trust God, the comparison breaks down pretty quickly. Because unlike humans, who are subject to errors in judgement, God knows what is best. And unlike us, who have very little control, God has control over all things. And while we can only see a little bit of what lies ahead, God can see all things. And who better to trust our lives to, than the one who possesses all power and wisdom?
So, does this mean that God will cause everything to work out just as we had hoped? Nope! Just read the Bible and you will quickly see that things did not always end well for people who were trusting in God! But what it does mean is that when we trust God, His purposes will be served. I know that may not seem very consoling, especially if He allows us to suffer. But if we take a broader view than how we will be impacted, it helps. For, if He uses the outcome, good or bad, for His purposes, then we can rest in knowing that in some way God was glorified, and that should be very pleasing to us.
So, the next time you are faced with a situation where you can trust in God, I encourage you to do so, and tell Him, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” That’s what Jesus did, and just look at how He glorified His Father, while saving us from our sins.
In His Service,
Pastor Rob