May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
To most people faith and trust are essentially the same. However, there is a slight difference. Trust has the added function of also being a verb. It is defined as “committing or placing in one’s care”. Another definition is “relying on something future or contingent”. What this says to me is that trust is an action coupled with the belief of something in return. We “commit” or “rely” and in return we receive something such as care. There is an exchange.
Think about the exercise where you’re supposed to fall backwards and trust the person to catch you. You fall – he catches. There is an exchange taking place. You can’t just say “I believe you’ll catch me but if it’s all the same to you I won’t fall back to prove to you that I do. You can take my word for it.” Your statement of faith means very little when it’s not followed up with an act of trust.
To me trust can be described as the step following faith. We start with faith but trust is putting our faith into action. Sometime it is, what we call, ‘taking a leap of faith’. Someone can say they have faith in God but it’s what they do with that faith that really means something. It’s one thing to say we have faith but it’s another altogether to back it up with our actions.
Not all faith requires a physical action of trust. Sometimes it simply requires an expectation. Looking at the story of Abraham we know he had a tremendous amount of faith. When God told him that he and Sarah would have a child, he had faith in that promise. God’s promise required only that Abraham believed and expected the promise to come true. However, when we travel a little further down the road of Abraham’s life we witness a pivotal moment where God required more than faith. He required trust. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. I’m sure Abraham had many questions. But whatever questions he had, he still had faith. He believed in who God was and he believed in God’s character. He made a difficult choice and acted on his faith. He put his faith into action and trusted God.
In Matthew chapter 10, we read where Jesus sends out the twelve apostles to preach His message. His instructions were as follows: “Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.” Seems kind of radical but, as always, there was a reason. It was imperative these individuals understood their needs would be met – that the one sending them out was their provider. I try to imagine myself in their shoes. I can totally see myself sneaking along a few packages of peanut butter and crackers just in case. Doesn’t show much faith, does it? Sadly that’s how many of us have been conditioned to think. In our worldly logic, it seems foolish or irresponsible to not be prepared or to expect others to meet our needs. We’ve taken trust out of the equation. Sure we believe that God can do but do we believe that He will do? Why is it that we always have to have a back-up plan just in case God doesn’t come through for us? And, then again, maybe that’s why He chooses not to come through for us. Where is our trust?
Think for a moment about the widow who gave her last two coins at the temple. She was a widow. Widows and orphans were some of the least cared for people of that time. She, likely, had no one to meet her needs (food, clothing or otherwise). How long would those two coins have lasted her? I don’t know. She was probably in a desperate situation and yet she trusted in God’s provision. She demonstrated the amount of her faith by giving everything she had. She took an action with the expectation of a return and Jesus noticed. He said: “she has put in more than all the others.” She gave more than coins. She gave God her trust.
There are countless examples in the Bible of faith being put into action. We can look at Gideon, Joshua, Noah, Moses, Nehemiah, and Esther just to name a few. These were ordinary people who believed in God but had the courage to trust in Him also. Their trust took their lives from ordinary to extremely blessed. How much different would our lives be if we acted out our faith – if we expected the blessings or the miracles we say we believe in?
How does trust relate to freedom? God’s ways and methods don’t always make sense to us and because of this we can get stuck/trapped/imprisoned in a world dictated by worldly logic. Truly believing and acting on our faith frees us from those bonds and allows us to experience a realm of Godly possibilities. If we truly live like we say we believe, the reward is great. There is nothing that can stop us. How much freer can we get?
I read this statement somewhere and think it's fitting: “We can never become fully intimate with a God we do not completely trust.” How are you at trusting? I know I work on it daily and that's okay. Progress is progress. I see freedom on the horizon and blessings in abundance.
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