LEARNING TO TRUST IN THE LORD
Many when they see will be filled with awe and will learn to trust in the Lord. Ps. 40:3, N.E.B.
Have you ever met someone whom you didn't think you were going to like very much, and in time that person became one of your most cherished friends? Even in relationships where you start off liking each other, it takes time to establish trust and love. It takes being together in different settings and sharing thoughts and feelings. "Tried and true" friendships are not quickly formed or quickly forgotten. Yet we tend to think that accepting Christ as our Saviour brings instantaneous closeness.
I firmly believe that accepting Christ is only the very beginning. Like any new relationship, there is so much to learn, to experience together. Our reservations are seen by Him not as sins but merely as the natural "in process" emotions we carry with us through all of life. He is not offended when we feel a need to test His responses. It is His delight to act out His part in the bonding process. "Test Me! Prove Me!" He invites. "See if I'm not the best friend you've ever known!"
"But it's a sin to doubt Him!" a concerned believer cries. And so many struggling followers cringe in shame and self-reproach because they know they still have inner questions and lingering fears. Trying to muster up the needed trust, they find they are paralyzed by their own efforts. The fact is that no one can make himself trust another person--even if that person is God! Trust is a learning response, not merely an intellectual exercise.
Jesus spent three and one-half intense years with twelve men who were still full of questions even on the night of the Crucifixion. One continued to doubt even after the Resurrection--until Jesus accommodated him by allowing him to put his hand into His wounded side. The point is not that these men were so terribly sinful. Our attention is drawn to how the Master met their inability fully to believe. He was not repelled by them! He constantly worked to still their fears and give them reasons to trust Him.
To know Him is to love Him. To know Him in part is to live Him in part, to trust Him tentatively. The devotional life of the believer is not to prove his spirituality; it is to improve his ability to trust the One who is altogether trustworthy. And that takes time.
Many when they see will be filled with awe and will learn to trust in the Lord. Ps. 40:3, N.E.B.
Have you ever met someone whom you didn't think you were going to like very much, and in time that person became one of your most cherished friends? Even in relationships where you start off liking each other, it takes time to establish trust and love. It takes being together in different settings and sharing thoughts and feelings. "Tried and true" friendships are not quickly formed or quickly forgotten. Yet we tend to think that accepting Christ as our Saviour brings instantaneous closeness.
I firmly believe that accepting Christ is only the very beginning. Like any new relationship, there is so much to learn, to experience together. Our reservations are seen by Him not as sins but merely as the natural "in process" emotions we carry with us through all of life. He is not offended when we feel a need to test His responses. It is His delight to act out His part in the bonding process. "Test Me! Prove Me!" He invites. "See if I'm not the best friend you've ever known!"
"But it's a sin to doubt Him!" a concerned believer cries. And so many struggling followers cringe in shame and self-reproach because they know they still have inner questions and lingering fears. Trying to muster up the needed trust, they find they are paralyzed by their own efforts. The fact is that no one can make himself trust another person--even if that person is God! Trust is a learning response, not merely an intellectual exercise.
Jesus spent three and one-half intense years with twelve men who were still full of questions even on the night of the Crucifixion. One continued to doubt even after the Resurrection--until Jesus accommodated him by allowing him to put his hand into His wounded side. The point is not that these men were so terribly sinful. Our attention is drawn to how the Master met their inability fully to believe. He was not repelled by them! He constantly worked to still their fears and give them reasons to trust Him.
To know Him is to love Him. To know Him in part is to live Him in part, to trust Him tentatively. The devotional life of the believer is not to prove his spirituality; it is to improve his ability to trust the One who is altogether trustworthy. And that takes time.
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