Who Do I Trust?
Sometimes we don’t even realize what we’re placing our trust in. As a man who’s been through some stuff and come out the other side, even so, I’m often reminded how difficult it is for me after moving my family so many times in such a short period not to place my trust in the house we live in now. Given that the major shifting is seemingly over, it’s hard not to trust in the idea that this house could be an immovable pillar in my life that I can ultimately rely on. It’s hard for me, after working for so many men in ministry who led their teams in fear, toxicity, and would just push people out or fire them on a whim, not to place my trust in the man I now work for since he’s different and actively fears the Lord with how he leads and lives his life. It’s hard for me not to place my trust in the idea that everything in my life that I love right now will just stay the way it is...and losing things I care about now indeed frightens me if I lose focus and dwell on it. While we know from scripture that all good things are absolutely a blessing from the Lord, it’s hard for me not to place my trust in the things that bring me value or make me feel safe.
While it’s good to thank God for what we have and enjoy things while we have them, it’s actually beneficial for us to ultimately come to the understanding that houses, as wonderful a gift as they are, can burn down, wash away, be broken into, lost, taken away, and destroyed. Relationships that we love can turn sour, become corrupted, can betray us, or dissolve. Our jobs, no matter how much we love them, can indeed disappear tomorrow without notice. Even people we love - parents, spouses, and even our children can be here today and gone tomorrow. Those things, all of those things as good as they are, aren’t to be what we place our trust in. It’s not that we sit in worry all the time and wait for the other shoe to drop, we are to do what Christ commands in Matthew 6 and not worry about tomorrow...although how on earth do we actually do that?
Well, we must trust completely in Christ knowing that, of everything we know and have, He’s the only thing in your life that won’t ever change, won’t ever disappear, won’t ever push you away, won’t ever reject you, and can be trusted in good times and bad from right here in time unto eternity. The Bible teaches us that all of His promises are true. Sometimes in His goodness, God will bring hardships in our lives, not to punish us, but to lovingly wean us off the world, and many reading this have experienced that. If we learn to truly trust Him alone in gratitude for life and salvation and not our circumstantial, ever-shifting, non-eternal situations either from love or pain, we will begin to feel that peace that surpasses all understanding because we will be trusting in the only trustworthy thing in all of existence. Ultimately, all earthly houses are built on the sand. Let us build our lives and rest on the only true rock of salvation - our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
“And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’” Job 1:21
