Day 5 - Trust
Author: Cole Martinez
Have you ever had anyone ask you to participate in a “trust fall” exercise? I don’t know about you, but I used to hate it when people asked me to do those. I just always felt like whenever I would go to fall, my friends wouldn’t catch me and just let me smack my head against the ground. To this day, I can’t decide if I had trust issues or if I just needed better friends. Nonetheless, the concept of a trust fall is a great illustration of our relationship with God. When God asks us to submit to His will over our own, He asks us to fall back into His arms and trust that He will catch us. God asks us to do a trust fall with Him. He’s not just picking on us though!
God has asked people to do trust falls with Him since the beginning of time. Some famous examples include, when God asked Moses to return to Israel to lead His people, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his precious firstborn son, and lastly when God asked Jonah to minister to the citizens of Nineveh.
In those first two examples, the people God called took the opportunity to fall into His arms in a state of radical trust, and because of this, they were greatly blessed. On the other hand, Jonah’s case did not end up as well. Jonah decided not to fall back into God’s arms but instead to fall forwards in his own understanding. Not to call out the obvious, but falling forward during a trust fall does not end well. Just as much, attempting to go out on our strength doesn’t usually end well either. Every day, God is calling us to do a trust fall with Him. The question is will we fall back into His arms or fall forwards flat on our face?
I feel like all too often my answer to that question is "well, I don’t know what God is going to do and that scares me but I do know what I would do, so I’m going to ignore God and follow what I know." As humans, we follow what we know and we trust who we know. It’s hard to put our trust in someone who is a complete stranger.
Equally, we cannot trust a God that we don’t know. We also can’t get to know a God that we don’t spend time with. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to, “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.” This verse should be a guiding verse for us all, but I would argue it is impossible to follow without knowing God. After all, it makes no sense to follow someone we don’t know. God wants us to trust Him but this is impossible without knowing Him. Will we seek to know God better this year so that we can trust Him more?
PRAY: God, thank you for your Holy Spirit who guides me through my life. Help me to see where You are asking me to do a “trust fall” with You and help to know that it is ok to fall back into Your arms. Father, help me to seek You more so that I can trust You more. Amen.