Trust

I have often said of God - "I know he cares.  But I don't trust him not to hurt me again" (or let me get hurt again)

Trust.

It's huge. And when you've been hurt by ... life ... it can be a very fragile thing.  It can be something you hold onto so tightly you don't share it. You don't allow it to grow. strengthen. foster.

by definition trust means: (noun) Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing, Custody; care, Something committed into the care of another; charge, The condition and resulting obligation of having confidence placed in one, One in which confidence is placed, Reliance on something in the future; hope, Reliance on the intention and ability of a purchaser to pay in the future; credit.
(verb) To have or place reliance; depend, To be confident; hope, To have or place confidence in; depend on, To expect with assurance; assume, To believe, To place in the care of another; entrust, To grant discretion to confidently, To extend credit to.

Recently I heard a speaker talk about trust.  He said that we trust other drivers on the road to follow the laws and be safe. We trust restaurants to prepare our food correctly and safely. We trust relative strangers to care for our children. We trust clerks to total our orders correctly.

Yet - we don't trust God. The creator of the universe. The one who loves us more than any. The one who sent his son to die a painful death - because of our sins. How can we trust all these things of the world yet not God?

We have hurts in our lives. Things that make it difficult to trust other humans.  systems set up by humans. things created by humans.  But so often we blame God. because he created humans.

But ...

He gave us free will. He doesn't break his own rules.  Yes - other humans will hurt us. Yes - we will hurt ourselves. But God is still faithful. He is still good.  I think.  I still don't fully trust him. I also worry about my children when they are with strangers until I get to know them.

I grew up with an old hymn -

Trust and obey

For there's no other way

to be happy in Jesus

But to trust and obey.

I am learning. Are you? Trust and Obedience ... easy to say ... so hard to do.