Faith: Accessing The Risk In Trusting God

Introduction: 

Welcome my friend, 

It's another Friday to share this moment in words. 

Like the ones before it, today's discussion is aimed at using simple everyday life experiences to bring to bear deep wisdom as we look to pick out a few lessons to help us continue to navigate this journey of life. 

To begin with, I'd like to know how you'd feel if a trustworthy friend made you a promise to do a particular thing or show up at a particular time? 

Most likely, you're going to feel relaxed, counting on their antecedents and how far the relationship has come. 

This kind of belief in a trusted ally won't feel like a risk; and most times on the said date, they turn up, as we knew they would.

Trust grows, confidence is reinforced. 

The above scenario is a show of how much faith we can show in a person simply because we believe in their ability to handle the said situation. 

So, it's not really that we have trust issues, we just want enough proof, and once convinced, will put our faith where we expect no disappointments; just as we've done with our friend. 

Discussion: 

Many times the will of God pushes us to go in unpopular directions that puts to the test everything we consider common sense. 

Which is why we may think it to be a risky thing to do. 

Our human need for security and assurance means that we can take the word of our colleague in the office to give us some cash on pay day over the same utterances from someone else we feel lacks the means to. 

From this we can say that our doubts are simply an expression of the little faith we have in God's abilities to come through for us, or his willingness to even do it. 

A baseless fear that exists for the following reasons:

▪︎ We Don't Know Him 

If a person says that there's no God, how then can they believe in him?

The privilege and wisdom of accepting his existence is a revelation that those who have refused to, miss out on. 

In this we live an anxious and burdened life constantly worried for the future as we acknowledge our inability to handle it sufficiently. 

Just like it's impossible for people in different parts of the world to mysteriously establish a relationship unless brought together by the internet or travel, knowing each other is the first step in creating trust.

▪︎ We Don't Understand His Nature 

If to know someone is to recognize their existence then to understand their nature is to go that further step of establishing a personal relationship with them. 

It's only when we know that a person has a nature of honesty and integrity that we're able to take their words for it. 

Many of us initially come to God with this mindset that he “answers all our prayers”, and for that, we get disappointed after he's failed to do so when we asked outside his will. 

Immediately, that trust we have in him is broken, causing us to begin a new kind of relationship, where we now trust him to an extent, asking of him with one stretched hand while trying to sort ourselves out with the other. 

It's not supposed to be so. 

As we get close to God we begin to understand his nature of love and steadfastness which makes it possible for us to see the blessings in our unanswered prayers, appreciating him, for his protection and redirection. 

Understanding his nature gives us the awareness that he'll always give us better than we asked for,  as long as we're steadfast ourselves through the trying times.

▪︎ We Don't Recognise His Sovereignty

If we can trust a friend simply because we see that they have the means to fulfill their promise then we can have faith in God to keep his word because he has all the authority and power to do so. 

If we can count on people that just have an insignificant fraction of status, wealth and power, how much more the owner of the world?

This is an awareness that shouldn't elude us.

▪︎ We Feel We Have A Better Plan 

A smart person trusts in their abilities, a wise person finds confidence in the one that gives them the enablement to handle even the “unforeseen circumstances” 

God sees the big picture which means that unlike us that have our focus on now or the near future, his plans for us encompasses not just this life but eternity. 

While our “little smartness” is willing to exchange our soul for pleasure, money or fame; God's plan for us takes care of our body and nourishes our soul. 

Putting us through a life of discipline that results in excellence. 

▪︎ We Don't Understand His Purpose 

All acts of God in our life are motivated by love and the moment we recognize this, we begin to trust his intentions. 

When God gives us a task, it's because he knows he's equipped us with everything required to get it done. 

We just have to avail ourselves for it.

God's purpose will always lead us in a direction where we can use his gifts to serve others, to the glory of his name and for the joy of our own fulfillment. 

■ Working Our Faith

From all we've discussed so far, it's quite clear that to have faith in a person requires that we have an existing relationship with them. 

This is why God desires an intimate relationship with us.

In spending time with him in prayer, not just for requests, but to listen to him, to know what he requires of us, we begin to understand more about him. 

As we intentionally schedule reading his words and listening to truth based sermons into our days, he sheds his light on us and reveals himself to us, so that we experience his nature. 

This is how we improve our relationship with him, loving him even more, having now felt the depth of his love.

■ What We Risk In Trusting God

Before we can obey an instruction, we must first of all hear it. 

God talks to us in different ways: directly, through his word or through others. 

However, one thing is certain, there's a conviction we feel in our hearts once we hear him; and it's this confidence that'll see us through when we face opposition from enemies and friends alike. 

Enemies from a point of hatred and friends from a point of love, especially when what God asks of us isn't as attractive or lucrative.

The risk of faith is similar to jumping off the plane with our parachute before it eventually opens up as we descend.

It's like this because faith lies in taking that leap with him without seeing the end, so we don't assume our success has come from our good planning. 

Summary: 

When Abraham walked his son on the path to slaughter, he inquired of his father, the whereabouts of a sacrificial lamb to which he answered “God will provide” 

This was how much Abraham knew God. 

As we continue to walk closer to God, we begin to trust him better as we would a dear friend, because we now know him better.

Here, we live without fear knowing that he answers all our requests once we ask according to his will. 

This is our faith that bears no risk.

Master Apprentice. 

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