You’re Invited to Trust: Three Ways to Trust in the Lord
I am an avid watcher of thriller/drama series. I love the action and the hope that all things will work out in the end. However, I have never understood how the police officer or FBI agent of the story simply looks at the one they are saving and asks, “Do you trust me?” My initial response would be, “NO! I just met you!” Yet the one being saved is quick to say “yes.” Isn’t this true of our lives with the Lord?
Do You Trust Me?
It is not easy to trust. It wasn’t during the disciple’s era nor is it today. We want outcomes, end results, something tangible before we will trust. Yet, God’s ways are higher than our ways, and we may not always receive before we believe. He is asking, “Do you trust me?” first.
Mark 5:21-43 is an example of Jesus’ invitation to trust him, to believe before we receive. One of the synagogue leaders, Jarius, comes to Jesus to plead with him because his daughter is dying. He asked Jesus to come with him to heal his daughter and Jesus traveled with him, but the crowd followed. During this time, a woman who was sick touched Jesus’ cloak, and he felt power flow from him. He paused to address this which took time away from healing the Jarius’ daughter.
While this was taking place, a message was sent to Jarius that his daughter died and encouraged him to leave Jesus, to not bother him anymore. (What a great tool of the enemy to convice us to do the same!) Jesus heard this exchange and replied, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” For me this is the equivalent to “Just trust me.” And Jarius chose to do to trust him. Arriving at Jarius’ home, scripture tells us that the daughter appeared dead. But Jesus stated, “The child is not dead but asleep.” And in his all-powerful might and voice, he took her hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” And “Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around.”
What if Jarius would have walked away upon hearing the news of his daughter’s death? What if he would have chosen something tangible for proof before the trust? What if disappoint would have clouded Jarius’ trust? We will never know because Jarius did not walkway. He chose to trust. He chose to believe before he received. We can do the same.
Three ways to Trust in the Lord
1) Active reliance
Learning to trust in the Lord is not a one and done activity. We are surrounded and live in a world that tries our trust in Jesus daily. The goal is not to never have difficult life circumstances, heartaches, etc. The goal is to know that when those hard times come, we have actively practiced relying on our Savior that we trust him to carry us through whatever it is we are facing.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) reminds us, “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.” It is this type of trust we see in Mark 5 with Jarius and another person. In the middle of Jarius’ cry for help from the Lord, there is another person reaching for help: the bleeding woman.
In her own strength she could not heal. With all the faith and trust she had, she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. His response after recognizing power leaving him, “Daughter, your faith has healed you” (vs.34). She did not rely on her own understanding, she knew she needed her Savior and that was enough. Let it be for us as well.
2) Surrender making Sense
There is not in a time our lives when we have not asked the question, “Why?” Why did someone we love die? Why did the divorce happen? Why does my child have cancer? Why suicide? The list of why’s could go on forever. Yet no matter how much we ask the “why,” most likely there will never be an answer good enough to soothe the “why” within.
Surrendering our need to make sense of everything is one of the hardest acts of trust we can commit. We want life to fit neatly into an equation where every circumstance has a logical explanation, and every heartbreak has a clear purpose. Yet on this side of heaven, we may not receive those answers.
Jesus reminds us in John 14:1 (NCV), “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me.” This world will not always make sense, and Jesus does not promise us that he provide all the answers to our “whys.” Instead, He invites us to experience what it truly means to trust in him. When we release our grip on needing life to make sense, we find that Christ's peace is greater than our understanding, and His presence is enough to carry us through what our minds cannot grasp.
3) Spending time with Jesus
With any relationship, spending time together helps build trust. Jesus provides us a standing invitation to spend time with him. Scripture is filled with invitations to remain in him (John 15:4), to follow him (Matthew 4:19), and come to him (John 7:37; Matt. 11:28). As we spend time with Jesus, we learn the ways of his heart. In reading God’s word, we learn and engage in knowing Jesus that reveals his ways and heart even more. This allows us to know what Charles Spurgeon proclaimed, “When we can’t trace his hand, we must trust his heart.”
To be able to trust Jesus’ heart, it requires time to be focused and connected with Jesus. This may be through reading his word, prayer, praise and worship or other ways that draw you near to him. As we engage in time with Jesus, we learn more and more about his heart and our own. In turn, we learn to trust the Savior who “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He did not wait until we were made perfect or free of all sin before he died for us; he loved us so much he did it even while we were still sinners. That is the Savior we are invited to trust.
Final Thoughts
It is hard to trust in a world that demands proof first. Yet, like Jairus, we are invited to believe before we receive. Jesus calls us to trust Him, to rely on His strength rather than our own understanding. As we practice active reliance, surrender our need to make sense of everything, and choose time with Jesus, we begin to discover that peace is not found in having all the answers but in knowing the heart of the Savior.
