Do We Really Trust in God?

What do we trust God for? When I hear people talk about trusting God it is usually when they are going through difficult times. People out of work trust that God will help them find a job, people who are ill trust God for healing, and people who are lonely trust God to bring love or friendship into their lives. While it is wonderful when suffering is relieved, God does not always help people in the way they hope he will. This begs the question, what should we trust God for?

The answer is simple to state yet difficult to comprehend. We should trust God to be God. We can be confident that God will act in a manner consistent with His character and plans and in ways that bring glory and honor to Himself. It follows that trusting God requires us to first understand His character and plans and then to make His glory our priority.

God is an infinite, eternal being who embodies perfect love, mercy and compassion, but who at the same time embodies perfect justice, righteousness and holiness. None of His attributes can be appreciated or understood apart from the others. As an eternal God He is more concerned with our eternal destiny than with our temporary happiness. He allows pain and struggle to come into our lives and then uses them to shape us into the people that He wants us to be. He allows times of need to increase our dependence on Him, and He allows us to endure the consequences of our rebellious choices so we can learn to follow Him.

This means that many of the circumstances we interpret as being indicative of God’s absence may actually be demonstrations of God working in our lives for our benefit. The worst job I ever had, with an unsupportive medical group in which I felt alone and oppressed, was a place where I was able to touch the life of a dying man and watch him come to faith. 15 years ago a virus attacked my spine, bringing with it the greatest physical pain I ever experienced.  Those few weeks of intense agony opened my eyes to the suffering of others in more than all of the previous 15 years of practice and training combined. Out of the ashes of suffering rose a heart of compassion that had not exited before.

My life testifies to the truth that suffering is a tool in the hand of God. In times of suffering I have learned to trust God more, not to meet every earthly need but to accomplish every one of His eternal plans. With each of these lessons I gain more understanding of the words of Job, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him,” for my greatest Hope is not for blessing in this life, but the eternal life that He has promised those who truly trust in Him.

-          Bart

Thanks for reading and sharing. Comments are welcome. You can subscribe to the blog by clicking on the subscribe button on the page (scroll down on a mobile device). I can also be followed on twitter @bartbarrettmd.

Is There Anyone We Can Trust?

One of the most quoted passages in Scripture is Paul’s description of the characteristics of a godly life found in his letter to the Galatian church. He calls these characteristics the “fruit of the Spirit”. The list includes- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are all and wonderful and desirable attributes but one in particular seems unique from the rest. Faithfulness.

It is the one that can only be measured and assessed over a long period of time. A person who is kind, joyous, good and gentle 99% of the time may rightly be described as having these attributes, but a man who is faithful to his wife 99% of the time is a cheat. Because it requires persistence over time I think faithfulness may be the rarest of the Christian virtues and the most difficult to possess.

I fear it has also become the least valued. In out fast-food, fast-paced world we have come to want what we want and to want it now. Young people fresh out of school want honor and respect. Young politicians closer to high school age than they are to retirement age seek to be president of the United States, while other older politicians ask us to believe that they are committed to positions opposite those they espoused just a few years before. How can we know they will be faithful to their promises?

The fact that so many of the leading candidates fit one of these descriptions is evidence that we have devalued faithfulness. There is no substitute for it. While a person who has been true to his values for decades should be more trusted than someone who had frequently changed, this does not seem to matter to us anymore. This is concerning.

It is of even greater concern to me in the life of the church. As is often the case, in this regard the American church is following American culture. We seek new faces, charismatic leaders who make eloquent statements and emphatic promises. While these leaders may be good and gifted men, and while they may be kind, gentle, patient, joyful and loving, it is hard to know if they are faithful. Faithfulness can only be measured over time.

Later this week I will be speaking to a church group on the topic of faithfulness, looking into the Apostle Paul’s thoughts on the subject. It was a common theme in the letters he wrote to young pastors under his charge. The talk will be the basis of my posts in the coming few weeks as I explore what it is that Christians are to be faithful to. The answers may surprise you!

-          Bart

Those who are interested in hearing my talk on faithfulness can watch it live on my twitter feed this Wednesday, February 24 (@bartbarrettmd) I am scheduled to begin between 10:15 and 10:30. I am planning on uploading the message to my vimeo page later in the week.