Trust Shift
Many of us have been there.
After eating a certain food we end up violently sick. Then from that time forward, whenever we smell or even see that food, we begin to feel sick. We choose to avoid it forever based on that single experience. Even if we know that it was probably an isolated incident, and we would probably be fine if we ate it again, we still want nothing to do with it, regardless.
I'm sad to even think how many people have this feeling toward God -- and I'm not excluding myself. People have been burned. Burned by people that they should have been able to trust. Burned by multiple people, even multiple scenarios. They walk away from them with a taste in their mouth that they will never forget. And, then, when God or His People are mentioned any time after that point, their stomach turns, they back away slowly, and then run. Who can blame them?
So where do you go from there when you still desire a genuine relationship with God and His People?
I have found that one of the first steps is having a trust shift. You realize that if you are going to move forward, you must come to grips with the fact that people are just that -- people. They are not perfect. They will mess up. They will disappoint us. They will flat out fail us. God has never asked us to trust man. He asks us to love them and trust HIM.
When this trust shift happens, we may still be apprehensive and need to ask God to help us with our fear, but we can be confident that we are safe. We can be assured that even when trials come and life happens, and flesh fails us, and we are even struck down -- we are not destroyed by them because we are no longer trusting in man, but now trusting in the One who promises to never disappoint us.
After eating a certain food we end up violently sick. Then from that time forward, whenever we smell or even see that food, we begin to feel sick. We choose to avoid it forever based on that single experience. Even if we know that it was probably an isolated incident, and we would probably be fine if we ate it again, we still want nothing to do with it, regardless.
I'm sad to even think how many people have this feeling toward God -- and I'm not excluding myself. People have been burned. Burned by people that they should have been able to trust. Burned by multiple people, even multiple scenarios. They walk away from them with a taste in their mouth that they will never forget. And, then, when God or His People are mentioned any time after that point, their stomach turns, they back away slowly, and then run. Who can blame them?
So where do you go from there when you still desire a genuine relationship with God and His People?
I have found that one of the first steps is having a trust shift. You realize that if you are going to move forward, you must come to grips with the fact that people are just that -- people. They are not perfect. They will mess up. They will disappoint us. They will flat out fail us. God has never asked us to trust man. He asks us to love them and trust HIM.
When this trust shift happens, we may still be apprehensive and need to ask God to help us with our fear, but we can be confident that we are safe. We can be assured that even when trials come and life happens, and flesh fails us, and we are even struck down -- we are not destroyed by them because we are no longer trusting in man, but now trusting in the One who promises to never disappoint us.
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