Trust Revisited

A few weeks back I wrote about trust. It's a topic God has been speaking to me a lot about lately and I wanted to revisit the issue now. No doubt this won't be the last time I'll be coming back to it. I don't claim to have anymore of a complete view of trust now than the last time I wrote on it. But I do want to share a little of what God has shared with me in the last few weeks.

I just finished reading Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning. I love the view of trust found in combining it with a word like ruthless. It suggests that to get through this life, to really trust God in the face of all the pain, sorrow and fear we experience, is going to take a fierceness. We're going to need to approach trusting God savagely, giving no ground. Yet at the same time, the ultimate goal is to be able to rest in the hands of the Father. In a sense, we must fight the lies of the enemy so that we can stop fighting the beautiful truths of God.

One thing the book really exposed to me is just how backward we have our priorities when it comes to trust. Manning writes, "Ruthless trust ultimately comes down to this: faith in the person of Jesus and hope in his promise. In spite of all disconcerting appearances, we stare down death without nervousness and anticipate resurrection solely because Jesus has said, 'You have my word on it.'"

Like most Christians, I've had my doubts in my faith. But by and large I am able to say, without reservation, that I believe I will go to Heaven when I die because of what Jesus did on the cross. I am willing to trust my immortal soul on the belief that Jesus really did what the Gospel's say He did and that it was enough. I've staked everything on this and if it's wrong all I have is the vague hope I'll get lucky. But despite the high stakes, I feel very calm trusting in this. I believe it's true.

So if I'm willing to so calmly trust what will happen to me when I die, why is it so tough for me to believe that God is going to provide work for me next month? Why do I wake up in the morning knowing I have a meeting later in the day and feel I'm doomed to failure? Why do I spend so much time worrying about my basic, earthly needs?

It's all backwards and as I begin to realize that the freedom I feel is unbelievable. Everything I need for eternity has been taking care of on the cross. God handled sin like it was nothing. He pinned it to the ground and took away its power. If He could do that then of course I can trust Him with all this other, smaller stuff.

The objection that rises in me at this point is, "that's nice but what about all that pain? What about the bad things that really do happen?" Manning doesn't side step that question at all in the book. Large sections are devoted to exactly that problem. And as he handles it, he shows that trusting God does not mean trusting that nothing bad will happen. It means trusting Him to carry us through the bad things, to work all things together for good. It's trusting that He is good in a world that is fallen. It's trusting that if God allows evil in our lives, He is faithful to walk beside us through all of it. (Note: For more on the problem of evil I would strongly recommend The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis)

If trust is something you have a tough time with, read this book. It's powerful and life changing. And it doesn't hurt that Brennan Manning is an amazing writer. If you haven't encountered any of his stuff, this is a great place to start.