Thoughts on Trust: Reasonability

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the issue of trust, and the measure of it I have been both given and have had myself. Trust is a difficult thing. I’ve been told by two people who know me very well that I am a very trusting person, both in my relationship with God and with other people. While I appreciate what they said, it might (though it probably wouldn’t) surprise them to learn that trust is one of the issues I struggle with the most.

Perhaps the toughest area to have trust is in my relationship with God. God is One who cannot be seen, heard audibly or obviously, among a host of other things. Therefore, it is easy to understand why many people do NOT trust in God. Many Christians don’t even trust in God. This is what worry is the product of. I know some Christians who fret their way through life, constantly forgetting that God takes care of it all. Today I caught myself being one of those, worrying about what is outside my control. This strikes to the root of why people don’t like to trust. Trust demands that you put aside common sense and let go, because you think that someone will catch you when, not if, you fall. Trust sometimes demands that you say what seems obvious is wrong, and believe simply because someone else told you to. That’s tough. That goes against every fiber of our bodies. We want things to make sense. We want them to fit together like so many jigsaw puzzle pieces. And, when they do not, we begin to worry that the puzzle will not fit together. This is how trust defies reasonability.

This is often the case with God. In Sunday School at church, we’ve been studying the book of Job. In all the cases of things that don’t seem fair in the world, Job’s ranks at the very top. He was a success in every way: spiritually, financially, physically, emotionally. He had a large family, with a large estate. He served God, in fact the Bible says he was “perfect.” (Perfect in this sense meaning complete and without blame, doesn’t mean he hadn’t sinned, but that he had followed God’s laws even in atoning for His sins.) In fact, this guy even offered up sacrifices for his children following their parties in case they had sinned. Yet, somehow, God allowed Job to become the subject of incredible persecution by Satan. Satan took all of Job’s possessions away, and then made him the subject of immense pain and sickness in the form of boils. Job was left groveling in the dust, asking God why He would do such a thing to an upright man.

It’s too long to quote here, but starting in Job Chapter 38, God asks Job a series of difficult questions, a series of questions that, confronted with, no man, not even the most cynical atheist, would be able to here without pausing for a moment and reconsidering his own position. Especially hearing it from the mouth of God, personally. It shows us the number one reason why we should put our trust in God.

It’s because we don’t understand. And furthermore, we never will understand.

It amuses me to watch the thousands of people who today try to understand all of the great questions of life, and declare that they have solved them by “rationalism.” One, they don’t have a standard for what is rational and what isn’t, and two, they are like millions who have come before them. It goes back to one of my favorite quotes: “Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.”

I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I’ve seen God demonstrate His power enough times, both in written account, and personally, that I know for sure that He has them all. Sure, I forget that sometimes. But that’s why I’m human, and He’s God. Trusting God isn’t necessarily rational. How it all works, and how it will all work out, is still a mystery to me. Always will be. But it does. It’s been proven to in the past, and it will be proven again. That’s all I need to know.