NOTE: This post is part of a series on trusting God. Go HERE to read the first post in the series.
How much do you trust someone with whom you have very little relationship?
Not much? Why?
That’s right. You don’t know them. You have no evidence that they are worthy of your trust. So, how do you change that and begin to trust them?
You get to know them, right?
As we journey forward in our quest to trust God’s more deeply, we must get to know this God who claims to be worthy of our trust. Fortunately, Scripture offers us no small number of examples in this regard. Let’s begin with Daniel. Go HERE to read Daniel 1:1-8.
Daniel 1:1 takes place in 605 BC and Daniel would have been about 15 years old. According to verse 3, he was of the Jewish nobility. The culture of that time was vastly different from our culture today. Young Jewish men were taught the Scriptures from the time they were very young, so Daniel would have known the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) quite well.
Daniel 1:2 presents an opportunity for Daniel, and for you and me, to begin our trust journey. The first four words are ‘and the Lord gave’. .Israel’s disobedience to God had caused Israel to split into two kingdoms (the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom). Both kingdoms were besieged and taken captive by other nations and God allowed it to happen because He is just and disobedience requires consequences. But, God had a plan.
Daniel 1:3-7 tells us that in captivity Daniel and his friends would be brainwashed in order to assimilate them into the Babylonian culture. What King Nebuchadnezzar did not count on was their trust and faith in their God.
Daniel 1:8 tells us that Daniel purposed, or resolved, in his heart not to defile himself. This making up his mind about the food of Babylon was not a mere intellectual exercise. He did not say to himself, ‘I have been taught that I should not eat things like that, so because someone said I should not, I won’t.’
No, Daniel knew his God, desired to be obedient to his God, and knew that obedience brings blessing. Daniel obviously had a relationship with God that was born of experience and trust. And this from a 15 year old boy.
What about you? Think about a time in your life when you were asked to trust God.Â
It may have been in something small or something great, but you had to make a choice: do I trust God or do I not?
In times like that, we rarely rise to the occasion. Rather, we act on what we already know to be true. So, if you have a past history of relationship with God and have found Him faithful, you will more readily trust Him again. Conversely, if you have not been intentional about getting to know God and trusting Him with all the things, you likely push away from trusting Him because you do not know the character and heart of God.
Here are some questions to consider:
Which of the above describes you? Do you know and trust God, or do you not know Him well and push Him away in favor of your own wisdom?
Does your current level of trust in God bring you peace and comfort?
What alternative option is there for trusting God? Another person? Yourself? Money? Don’t trust anyone?
I would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment, email me at [email protected], or use the contact form on my website.
Go HERE to read the next post in the series.
SDG/FCA!
