I was walking with my two youngest grandchildren the other day, and a car was driving down the street. My almost-three-year-old grandson said with high alarm, “Car!” That was warning enough for my one-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter to run, hug my legs, and then lift her arms for me to pick her up. She felt afraid and was needing protection from the danger she anticipated. My grandchildren trust me. So far, I’ve not done anything too wrong to cause them doubt!
For all of us, trust is a persuasion. We choose whom we will trust based on the evidence given. I don’t entrust my finances to someone who has a history of gambling and losing money. I don’t share my inner-most self with someone unable to guard my heart. And so on. Trusting others has been complicated of late. It seems so many folks have proven themselves to be untrustworthy. The world feels more chaotic, unpredictable, and confusing, and we feel off balance. Frustration and anxiety levels seem to increase at the least provocation.
Perhaps we need to take a deep breath and redirect our focus to a familiar, but profound truth: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Do we believe God is trustworthy? Has he not proven himself? Can we not see the evidence all around us, throughout history, and in our day-to-day lives? While there are things we do not understand from a human perspective, God is quite capable of controlling both the distribution of good and the limit of evil. Trusting God does not mean we step out of the picture. God has given each of us an assignment to complete, and while we are to do so ever so boldly, we are to do so only in love and with a servant’s heart. We, as my grandchildren did with me, can run to our heavenly father. His love, and his plan for all of us, is perfect. He is at the helm, and he’s got this.
Amy Wildman White 