Believe. Pray. Trust.

   Photo by Tracy Pellegrino

Believe. Pray. Trust.

We need connection with God and others.  It’s hard-wired in our brains.  Genesis 1:26 tells us that we are created in God’s own image and likeness.  God is in relationship with His own members of the Trinity—I guess you could say that God is a relationship.  And He created us because He wanted a relationship with us. 

So what is our relationship with God like?

Do we believe God loves us and that He is good?

Do we pray, spending time talking to Him and listening to Him?

Do we trust God in the deep places of our hearts?

We read the scriptures and see that it is true: God is love, God is good, God is trustworthy, God wants us to grow into His image.  Paul prays for the Ephesians:

14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:14-19

The scripture is full, front to back, of the message that God loves us and is good.

So why are there times when it doesn’t look like that’s true?  

Could it be that our definition of Love and Good are not the same as God’s definitions?

We live in an imperfect world with a perfect God.  There’s bound to be a mismatch, at least once in awhile.  And I’m going to guess any misunderstanding is on our side of the court.  Right?

When I ask God for something, I usually have a particular outcome in mind.  I have thought about it and have decided what the best plan would be.  All I want God to do is do it for me.  Kind of like a Genie.

I want more money, better health, happiness, an easy life for me and for everybody I care about.  I want the world to make sense according to my way of thinking.  I want what is loving and good.

But clearly God doesn’t agree that everything I want is loving and good.  He knows better.  Now and then we even get to see why He asked us to wait, or worse yet, gave us a flat No.

Once I was selling a house, and  was afraid I would miss a good moment for getting a good price.  I was frustrated as it sat for months with a real estate downturn looming any minute.  I never stopped praying, but God didn’t answer.  Until He did.  Suddenly, in a matter of days, the house sold in a bidding war because of a local circumstance we could not have foreseen, for an amount that was more than I thought possible.  

God builds our faith and trust, even if it’s accompanied by a liberal dose of adrenaline sometimes.  

When I first come to know God, I wanted Him so deeply that I would take whatever He sent as good.   I had very few preconceived notions. But as time went along I developed my own theology of goodness.  If God answered my prayers the way I wanted Him to one time, why couldn’t it always be that way? Was it something I did wrong? Did He change?  I thought He was trustworthy.

There are times in the Bible when God didn’t do what was expected.  God had a long chat with Job about that, remember?  Jonah wanted God to be good to Israel, but didn’t want Him to redeem Ninevah.   I’m sure we can all remember times when God didn’t ease our situation but intensified it.

There can be a tension in our relationship with God.  We believe He loves us, that He hears our prayers, that He is trustworthy— the Bible tells us so.  AND, as the hymn says, we have “proved Him o’er and o’er”.  

But sometimes things don’t add up, big or small.  It’s then that we must choose to trust Him, believe Him, continue to pray…. and say, like the tearful father in Mark 9:23, “Lord, I believe!  Help my unbelief.”

Psalm 9

1 I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart;

I will tell of all Your wonders.

2 I will be glad and exult in You;

I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

3 When my enemies turn back,

They stumble and perish before You.

4 For You have maintained my just cause;

You have sat on the throne judging righteously.

5 You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked;

You have blotted out their name forever and ever.

6 The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins,

And You have uprooted the cities;

The very memory of them has perished.

7 But the Lord abides forever;

He has established His throne for judgment,

8 And He will judge the world in righteousness;

He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.

9 The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed,

A stronghold in times of trouble;

10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,

For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

11 Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion;

Declare among the peoples His deeds.

12 For He who avenges bloodshed remembers them;

He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

13 Be gracious to me, O Lord;

See my affliction from those who hate me,

You who lift me up from the gates of death,

14 That I may tell of all Your praises,

That in the gates of the daughter of Zion

I may rejoice in Your salvation.

15 The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made;

In the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught.

16 The Lord has made Himself known;

He has executed judgment.

In the work of his own hands the wicked is snared. Higgaion Selah.

17 The wicked will turn to Sheol,

Even all the nations who forget God.

18 For the needy will not always be forgotten,

Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever.

19 Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail;

Let the nations be judged before You.

20 Put them in fear, O Lord;

Let the nations know that they are but men. Selah.