Trust

I begin this blog with a question or two. Can you say its easy to lift 100 pounds of weight if you've never had to or tried to lift 100 pounds of weight? Of course you can "say" that it is. But it doesn't make the statement true. Can you say its easy to trust if someone has let you down yet never have experienced broken trust or betrayal of trust? Yes, you can "say" it but it doesn't make the statement true. Ask a wife whose spouse cheated on her. Ask a son whose father abused him. Ask a daughter whose mother walked out on her. Ask someone who put all their hope and faith in someone only to be misled, misguided, crushed, or abandoned. Will they tell you its easy to trust? No! If they're honest, they will tell you how difficult it is to work through the hurt and the brokenness. They will tell you how they feel they were kicked to the curb and left there all alone. They will tell you how high and deep they've built the walls around their hearts to protect them from experiencing such devastation again. To ponder on such situations and circumstances, can you whole heartedly point the finger at them for being selfish and wrong for not trusting God with their lives? There's more to a person's situation and circumstance than what we see in our own eyes and what we understand in our own intellect. Does our knowledge and intellect justify our judgment? You can call it fruit inspecting if you'd like but look deeper into the trunk of the tree. Who stabbed a sword in it? What event took place that altered the tree from producing a good harvest? Rather than assume someone is wrong for their lack of trust in people or in God, would compassion for their past not produce a better result? Would praying earnestly to God for a recovering and healing of the wound not speed up the process for an abundance of good fruit? A good fruit tree has a good root system. And a good root system goes deep, deep, deep underground and cannot be seen unless you dig it up. Deep inside there's a struggle going on between what has happened in the past and what they want for their future. Deep inside there is a battle between what they know is true and what they have experienced before. When truth and experience collide on unequal fronts then a bigger battle rages. It cannot be won overnight. It will take time to fight it out and when the battle is over and the wounds are fresh, it will take even more time to heal and recover. Pointing a finger of accusation for a lack of trust is unjustified. "Judge not, lest ye be judged." Weigh that. It's heavier than you think. For all who have been hurt, whose trust has been broken, who have felt the sting of betrayal, who are wandering aimlessly with no direction any more, I pray for you. I pray the hurt ceases, the wounds heal, the sting is erased and the future becomes clear again. Through all of those situations and circumstances I pray your trust in God begins to replant itself deep into your heart, soul and spirit. Only in Him can and will you flourish. You do not have to stay in the desert wasteland any more. Does it mean you'll be on your way today? Tomorrow? Only God knows. But I pray it happens for you faster than you think and you can bathe in the love of the Savior Who really will never let you down. Take your eyes off of man and place them solely on Christ. Everything that you need is found only in Him.