About twenty years or so ago it started becoming popular at corporate events to have an activity called the “trust game.” Sometimes these games were physical and involved actions such as blind folding a participant and having a colleague lead her through an obstacle course. Or having a co-worker close his eyes and fall back into the arms of someone else.
Sometimes the activities were more conversational and psychological. Teams might be presented with an ethical situation and asked to come up with a solution. Often, partway through the discussion, each team was thrown a curveball that made them have to decide between two uncomfortable outcomes.
The point of these games was to build trust with co-workers in a relaxed setting so that they would be more likely to be more open and honest with each other in real-life work difficulties.
King Solomon advised his son to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5).
Trusting God should be easier than trusting anyone else, shouldn’t it? When I Googled “what does the Bible say about trusting God” I immediately got a list of 100 verses about trusting Him. And I suspect there are more.
There are many examples of people trusting God throughout the old and new testaments. Daniel had to trust God not to let lions kill him when he was thrown into their den. He and his companions had to trust that they would not be burned to death when they refused to stop worshipping their God. Abraham trusted God when he was told to tie up his son Isaac and put him on a pyre. He was ready to stab Isaac to death when God finally said “stop!”.
Moses trusted that God would show him how to lead an entire nation out of captivity into the Promised Land. Including telling Moses and the people to just keep on walking when they came to the edge of the sea. And it parted in front of them.
Joseph trusted God when the angel appeared to him and said Mary was pregnant. That she had not been unfaithful, and that she was going to deliver the Messiah. Joseph believed this miraculous statement and agreed to take on the task of raising the savior of the world.
How many of us can say we would demonstrate this level of trust? Honestly, I might balk at trusting certain of my colleagues to catch me when I fall.
But surely, I can trust God. The Bible tells me so, right? I’ve never been put to the test like Daniel. I’ve also never witnessed a miracle. And I have prayed for them. I prayed it wasn’t true that my daughter had died in a car accident.
I’ve had friends who prayed their marriages wouldn’t fall apart. That they wouldn’t lose their job and subsequently their house. That their son would stay in rehab and give up drugs.
And God was silent.
Or at least it seemed that way. God has never gone back on His word. God, by His very nature as God, cannot lie. He always hears our prayers and He always answers them. We don’t always hear His answer. Because our understanding of God and His answers is limited. No matter how introspective we are. No matter how deeply we probe an ethical situation. We’re not always going to come up with an acceptable explanation.
Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. And he made mistakes. He committed sins. So do we. We humans live in an imperfect world of our own making. But, if we are in it for the long haul and we believe some day it will all be made new, God will keep His promise. For eternity.
Trust me on this.
Laura
A Light for My Path 
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