Trust.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.”

‭‭- Proverbs ‭3:5‬

The subject of trust is definitely something I find difficult to talk about, because everyone is different. There isn't a blanket method to guarantee trust, it's relative to the individual doing the trusting, and the individual that's being trusted. So how do we get around that?

The problem is that human beings have the innate disability to trust completely because we are painfully aware of the fact that no human being is capable of not letting us down. To rephrase, even the closest to us, are completely able to hurt us, whether we expect it or not.

So the scripture quoted above is challenging to me, to trust in the Lord and not lean on my own understanding. The only person that I trust is me, I know that if I let myself down, then that's me, I have done that to myself. I don't have to deal with the added disappointment that comes with looking at somebody you thought you trusted and knowing that is no more.

It doesn't help that trust is absolutely something that is to be earned, just think, you send your children to school every day, you don't know their teachers, some of them you have never, and will never meet, but they have still earned you or trust because you know in order to teach your children they would have had to have gone through the necessary training and gained the appropriate qualifications. Another example, you trust the advice of a doctor, because you know he or she has done exactly what is necessary to be worthy of the title Dr, before even meeting you, they have worked to earn your trust.

So how does the illustration of the teacher and the Dr help me in comprehending why I should trust Jesus? And what is wrong with my understanding?

Well, to begin with, As humans, we are emotive beings, and our emotions cloud a lot of things, understanding is one of them. I'll give you an example, do you ever wonder why children have so much energy? Like how on earth do they have the kinetic capacity to sprint everywhere they go? Whether it's outside, or a trip to the toilet, there seems to be an imaginary Usain Bolt challenging their running ability. I have an answer to these questions... Bed time. Children up until a certain age have a regimented bedtime that results in them getting between 10-12 hours of sleep. The humanity. Could you imagine how much more productive our lives would be as adults if we managed to get 10 HOURS OF SLEEP a night?! We would have figured out how to fix the ozone layer by now! But I can tell you when I was younger I HATED bed time. I thought parents just used it as a tool to get rid of their children for the night (they do but that's not the whole point). My mind was not able to comprehend the benefits of sleep, but I had parents that knew, and by trusting them (moving past my own understanding, although I was going to bed by force) I was benefiting before I knew I was.

I think this demonstrates the exact reasons why trusting Jesus with everything is more beneficial than can be articulated. Just like the doctor who earned your trust before you met him, so did Jesus. Like the teacher who worked to help your children before they met them, so did Jesus. He traveled through paradises and universes so we could have someone to trust completely, he walked up that hill carrying our punishment, he came to earth as perfection, but died the death of he most hideous of individuals. Friends, he earned the title saviour, way before you met Him. When things are not going our way, we don't have to lean on our own limited understanding because we can be safe in the knowledge that our FATHER is too in love with us to let us go through anything that will not result in an eventual benefit. (Insert bedtime illustration here).

My advice to you? Trust him, you have WAY more to gain than you have to lose.

Agape x