In God We Can Trust!
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’ (Hebrews 13:8); ‘(3) When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (4) In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’ (Psalm 56:3-4)
The key component to trust is consistency. If you have a supervisor, for example, and he (or she) is consistent with edicts and treatment to subordinates across the board, you gain the trust and understanding of your supervisors’ decisions and actions. You can anticipate and work toward what the decision will likely be, and be prepared – at least mentally – when the next task comes. If a supervisor is inconsistent and chaotic, this can lead to failures or incomplete work efforts as people will continually be readjusting and unprepared to respond to the next edict that comes down. Mistrust creeps in and then the supervisor will lose reverent power and the respect of the subordinates.
We don’t have to worry about inconsistency in Jesus. As Paul states in Hebrews 13:8, Jesus, and the Trinity as a whole, never changes in character, demeanor, or purpose. The promises made to Israelites in the Wilderness are promises kept; when Jesus says that He comes to provide Salvation to all who accept Him, when you accept Him you are sealed in His Salvation – end of discussion. There is no ‘fine print’ or ‘escape clause’ in the Bible regarding the Promises of God, only well spelled-out stipulations in several ‘if/then’ statements, usually stating in paraphrase, ‘if you keep your word that you’ll obey God, then God will honor and keep His promises to you.’ Even then, God provided Jesus as the ‘Way, the Truth, and the Life’ (John 14:6); that ‘exception’ clause that states ‘Believe and accept Jesus as Lord, repent of your sin, and all is forgiven’.
Sometimes our Faith in that trust can be shaken; when a life-altering event occurs (like a natural disaster or a health issue), we may be hit with doubt, or with the question, ‘why me, Lord?’. We can ask the Lord for clarity and for strengthening that trust. In Mark 9, a father of a young boy brought Jesus his son, who had since birth been suffering seizures and fits. The man asked Jesus if He could do anything to help the boy, and Jesus replied (again in paraphrase) with ‘If I can do anything? You need to believe and trust me that I can.’ The man replied (in Mark 9:24), ‘I do believe! Help me to overcome this disbelief!’ Jesus then healed the young man and cast out the demon that had control over the boy. The boy was healed due to the man trusting Jesus, even in having just a small amount of Faith.
When we first accept Christ, we have a modicum of trust; that trust in Jesus grows as our knowledge in Him grows and as we see in Faith that Jesus in consistent in His promises. He walks with us, teaches us, and the Holy Spirit guides us, and we see the consistency that Jesus provides. We as humans can be trusted as much as we are consistent, but we can never be as perfectly consistent as Jesus to earn as perfect a trust as we have in Him.
