Do We Really “Trust God”?

If you ask the average American Christian the question, “Do you trust God?,” you’ll get a “yes” almost 100% of the time. But, I’d like to ask, do we really?

Think with me for a moment, if you would. The same person who answered “yes” to the above question likely lives in a warm, comfortable home and has two cars, a good job (maybe two if both spouses work), a big turkey on the Thanksgiving table, piles of gifts under the tree at Christmas, all the latest electronic gadgets and is totally “connected” via the virtual world.

So, really, for what might this person be trusting God? Everything mentioned is self achieved and self attained.

Well, you might answer, “it’s God’s blessing.” Oh?

Do you mean that because by some stroke of birth luck (being born here instead of in Bangladesh, for instance) one is entitled to all this abundance? What kind of a God would favor some, and not others, in this way?

Just ponder that, because I’m not even going to try to answer this question now (I think the scriptures gives us some poignant pondering points, however). But instead I raise the question simply to entreat us to look at our priorities and examine in whom we truly place our trust (and fate).

As Kay Lynne and I ponder the steps just ahead of us in our “golden” years, we are sincerely looking to put things into the proper perspective. As we do, it becomes more obvious by the day that the very biggest obstacles to trusting God are things.

In our culture, it is admittedly difficult, if not almost impossible, to “trust God” when we have virtually everything. More and more, she and I are thinking that we must get rid of a lot of these things and learn to trust God for everything, including our sustenance, instead of looking so much at income or assets. Two posts ago, I alluded to some of the following words of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?...

…Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?...

…Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.”

It couldn’t be clearer. We’ve got to stop allowing our culture to define the difference between “needs” and “wants”. We've got to refocus our interests on Kingdom issues. Learning the concept likely involves giving away some things. And as we do, God may have some suggestions for us regarding the lessons of “equality” and “justice” (on a world-wide scale) as we listen and look to Him for guidance as to how we can best live out our part in carrying out Kingdom priorities.