Trust 101

I have a friend whose oldest daughter is quite close to her father.  He has been a coach for her in sporting activities and helped with her school work.  He has taught his girl much about the business he owns and she helps in the work in small ways.  So recently, when I was asked to pray for this child because her father had to be out of town, it got me to thinking.

This father will be traveling out of town during a big tournament in which his daughter is set to compete, and she will be without his presence and the support that gives. 

This  girl is understandably upset at her father missing the tournament, but she is also worried for his safety and this has affected her appetite.  This sweet child only wants her father with her.  She feels his absence strongly and it affects her physically and emotionally. 

She has to trust that he is still rooting for her and her team to win.  She has to trust that he will do all he can to return to her.  She has to trust that he thinks of her even when they are not together.  She has to learn to trust; to believe in her father’s care even when he is not there. 

 And that is the hard lesson each child of the Heavenly Father must also learn.  That though we cannot see Him, we know He is present.  That though we cannot feel Him we know He loves us.  Though He unseen, we know He is working for us to the praise of His glory.  Oh, trust…How difficult to rely on that which our senses cannot detect. We are so tied to the sensual, the visual, and the auditory.

 Yet we are called to trust in God, and this can only happen as we believe what He says and rely on it.  We hear Him and we listen and do what He says; we read His word and act upon it, fully or not so fully expecting Him to act as He has said.  Trust moves in as doubts are answered and faith is built.  As with love, trust is built up slowly, over time and through circumstances.  The process of becoming a person who trusts is not easy, it feels like a gamble to us.  It is not certain; the outcome could go either way as we see it from our vantage point. But consider the perspective of the father or the girl; he fully intends to come home after his trip.  He will follow the championship game, if even by getting text updates during the game, he will be thinking of his daughter even though he is miles away.  For him, the trust is not a gamble; trust is not even the word to use.  The

word to use is love.

Of course he cares about what she is feeling and what her activities are and the importance of the tournament to her, because he loves her.  She cannot read his mind, so relies on his presence; she relies on his spoken words.

 But this time she will learn to remember.  Remember his words of encouragement from before; remember all the games he has coached in the past and all the encouragement he has given her previously and she will learn to trust him even when he is not there in person.

And so with each of us, we remember each time God has answered our prayers. We recall what He has said in His word, what His Spirit has placed on our hearts and how He has always been there, even as He promised.