Thursday 10 May 2012

Do we know how to trust?


"Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. – Matthew 6.8

This phrase pops up twice in this chapter, once here and once a little closer to the end. Maybe we need to hear it twice because we are so thick we won’t get it the first time.

What is so important that God had to say it twice?

'The Father knows what you need before you ask Him.'

I will admit that this is an area that I battle all the time. Though not as bad as many years ago I still have a problem trusting God like He really is my heavenly Father who knows that I need.

When our children were young they never worried about going hungry. They never worried about if the heat and light bills would be paid. They did not lay awake at night wondering if what was going to happen the next day.

Why is it that our kids can trust us implicitly and yet we have a hard time trusting our heavenly Father, who is so much more powerful than us, to care for our needs? He is the all-powerful One who loves us and He knows exactly what we need. Do we really believe it or are we just sort of acknowledging that it is probably true?

‘Your father knows what need before you ask Him’ is just as much a part of scripture as ‘For God so loved the world…’

Why is it I can trust the latter so much easier than the former?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apparently your childhood was a lot happier than some. I wish we all had had good parents. It would make trusting God so much easier.

I have met few Christians that doubt God's power or knowledge of what we need. More commonly we doubt his willingness to help. For example, Scripture promises God will protect us from all harm. When He doesn't, we have to wonder why and wonder what hoops we must jump through to convince him to fulfill this promise. This makes trust hard, more like faith in something which we cannot see and which is very different from our experience.

Trust is a primary spiritual battleground for some of us.

Naas Preacher said...

Thanks so much for that contribution. I appreciate the additional perspective you have presented.

It is tragic that, wherever we fail, we can't learn to bask in God's love, provision, and perfect care.