Friday, June 08, 2007

I don't trust God...

I almost choked and fell off of my chair as I heard those words in a class of mine at Trinity. I felt really uncomfortable for a few minutes as I listened to others who shared the same sentiments. I felt as though I needed to defend God and His character. Then I remembered that He's pretty good at doing that on His own. As I listened to the pain of others, I found myself feeling a bit guilty, because I've never even been close to the kind of pain that they are going through. My mind was going nuts as I experienced about a billion emotions at once.

So where did I end up? Grateful to God for His grace for one. I finally came to the realization that maybe many Christians don't trust God. What don't they trust? They don't trust that He'll keep them safe, that He'll protect them from pain and give them a life that at least seems to have some measure of happiness. And you know what? They shouldn't! I think that we should have absolute faith that God will do everything He has promised, but we need to make sure we know what God has promised and what He hasn't. When people confuse this, they see God as untrustworthy and unreliable. Would you trust me if I didn't give you a million dollars? Of course you would, because I would never promise to do that. However, if I fell short on all of my promises, of course you wouldn't trust me!

So what has God promised? I heard people saying "I know God has a plan for me and this is part of it." Time out. Where are you pulling that from? Does God ordain every detail of our lives? I really don't think so, however, I would be open to anyone's comments on this matter. I think God has a plan to redeem the world through His son, and we can count on that. I think that if we continue to seek God and keep Him at the forefront of our lives, that He will work all things together for our good (Romans 8), but maybe that's just in the form of trials that will develop our character. Does God cause everything bad that happens in this world because it's part of His plan? I think not. Does He use it to refine us? Absolutely! However, I'm interested to hear what you all think...

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