Trustworthy God
Simply believing in God is no good to us. We are to have faith, and trust is the practical outworking of faith. Faith in God sometimes seems like an unclear, airy-fairy concept, doesn’t it? It’s hard to pin down exactly what it means; it’s hard to know whether we really have ‘faith’. We can understand trust, though, can’t we? After all, we find ourselves having to trust people every day.
We trust whoever built our house that it’s not going to fall on our heads. We trust the bank with our money. We trust the pilot on our next plane trip is competent. We invest a tremendous amount of trust in the pilot, the maintenance crews and the air-traffic control people. We exercise trust all the time, quite unthinkingly. We know what it means. Trust is the practical outworking of faith: it is when we trust God that we show that our faith in Him is real.
As we are in the beginning of the school year, we are learning to trust the Lord every day. Life in school can make us weary and can be challenging especially for those who are new – it can deplete us from the strength we need to get out of bed and do the things we are required to do. A meaningful and personal relationship with God can give us inner energy and strength that can sustain us. Engaging in spiritual exercises like prayer, reading the Bible and abiding in God’s presence can help us tap into special power that only God can provide.
A favorite reading for many people comes from Isaiah 40:25-31.
“The Lord is the eternal God, creator of the earth. He never gets tired or weary. His wisdom cannot be measured. The Lord gives strength to those who are weary. And those who trust in the Lord will find new strength”.
When we are alone with God—when we ‘wait’ on him, we are able to receive His strength. When we believe and trust what we read in scripture on how God works, our hope is supported. This strong belief and hope, grounded in scripture, can give us strength to trust in God.
