Trust

I heard a parent say something like this, “Do you know I love you?” The child responded, “Yes.” Continuing the conversation, the parent said, “Then you need to trust me and obey me since I know what’s best for you. While you may not like to do this, you need to obey. It’s that simply. I know what’s best for you, and I love you.” (This parent exhibited a direct, take-charge posture with a tone that expressed expectation – no anger, no raising of voice).

I’ve been thinking about the importance of trust in relationships – specifically our relationship with our heavenly Father through faith in Jesus, and by comparison, the relationship children have with their earthly father and mother. How is trust in relationships built? Trusting someone is usually built over time with consistent and predictable behavior. When a person believes that the other one has his or her best interest at heart, trust is developed. Unconditional love and self-sacrifice are cornerstones of building trust in close relationships and certainly in the child/parent one.

Have you ever thought about how you developed trust in someone? More specifically, how you developed trust in Jesus for salvation? Let’s look at the various steps you probably took: 1. You trusted the Bible as the inerrant, infallible Word of God – every Holy Spirit inspired word of it. 2. Since the Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son to rescue us from perishing, you trusted It. 3. You believed and received Jesus by faith, trusting the Scripture  as true and factual. 4. Why was Jesus willing to die on a Roman cross? 5. Because He trusted His heavenly Father, and 6. Because of that trust, He was willing to be obedient. Trusting begets obedience; loving and being loved begets trust. (And okay, Jesus was God).

When I question or don’t understand what God is doing in my life or in the lives of those I dearly love, I know I can trust an all-knowing, perfectly-loving, sovereign God. All I need to do is look to the cross. God’s love was demonstrated in Himself, and Jesus was the incarnate instrument and the expression of that love through his obedience and sacrificial death. If we truly trust God, we will walk in His ways and act accordingly. Abraham trusted God, built the ark and was willing to sacrifice Issac. Moses trusted God to deliver, and God parted the Red Sea. There are so many examples in Scripture of man trusting God. But also, examples of man taking matters into his own hands. I’m thankful for both examples.

There is a parallel here. A parent/child relationship is not unlike the one between you and your heavenly Father. It’s built on trust. When your child becomes an adult, he or she will shift from being accountable and trusting of you to being accountable to his/her heavenly Father. When children learn to trust their parents, it becomes easier to trust God. Look to the cross; learn of His names and character, read Scripture. He is worthy of our trust for eternal life and for our daily walk of faith. 

As parents, it is important that we model our trust in God by discussing situations whereby God fulfilled a promise, answered a prayer, or met a need. Modeling our dependence on our heavenly Father for our daily walk is an expression of faith and trust in the One who loves us perfectly and consequently, knows what’s best for us. Begin by saying to your child, “Let’s pray and trust God’s answer for _____. In our culture of self-reliance, performance-driven achievement, get-after-it mentality, it can be humbling to place our trust in our heavenly Father, rather than in others or in ourselves. If we trust God for salvation, shouldn’t we trust Him for each day’s challenges…and more importantly, model that for our children? May we commit this to prayer.