What does trust mean to you?

I would say that trust is the knowledge that someone will do what he or she has promised. I trust that you will remain faithful in your marriage. I trust that if you say you won’t take money under the counter, you won’t do it. I trust that you will always speak the truth and not even tell a little white lie to talk yourself out of a corner.

Trust comes with a whole lot of risk and carries the ever-present chance that you may get hurt. How many marriages have failed because one party was unfaithful? How many broken hearts are left behind, because one party did not meet his or her commitment to the trust contract?

When I worked at the factory, we depended a lot on trust. I appointed many people to help manufacture the products in the factory. When a new person was appointed, first there’s the trust that he would report for work on time the next day. Then the trust that he would do what he said he could and would do.

It was bad when you noticed after an hour or so that the person was not able to fulfill the promise to do the work right. But the opposite was also true that if the person did as he promised to do, the relationship of trust would be strengthened, and you would jump with joy for appointing a good employee.

Trust is a mutual relationship. At the end of the week, the employee comes to you expecting his or her wage, trusting that you will fulfill your promise of paying him or her.

In our everyday life we trust a lot. You trust that the driver going the opposite way will keep left. You trust that the person walking into your shop will pay for the goods they pick up and not walk out without paying. You trust that the cashier will give you the correct change.

Society is based on trust.

It’s the same with our faith. We trust that Jesus’ death on the cross is enough. We trust that when we get to heaven one day, our bed will be made. We trust that God’s love for us is more than enough and that He will always be there for us.

So, why is trust the first thing that walks out when things get hard? Is our trust in our God so weak that it cannot bear the burden of hardship? We need to be very careful here, because there is a loud and clear warning about this from God.

¹⁵For who were the people who turned a deaf ear? ¹⁶Weren’t they the very ones Moses led out of Egypt? ¹⁷And who was God provoked with for forty years? Wasn’t it those who turned a deaf ear and ended up corpses in the wilderness? ¹⁸And when he swore that they’d never get where they were going, wasn’t he talking to the ones who turned a deaf ear? ¹⁹They never got there because they never listened, never believed.

Eish! Let’s hold on tightly to our trust in God!

Scripture
Hebrews 3:15-19

Reflection
What is your definition of God?
Do you trust God completely?
Where do you have to help others with trust?

Prayer
Father, I must confess it’s easy to trust You in good times, but when reality hits hard, my trust starts wobbling. I’m sorry! Please help me. I ask this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.