• Making The Choice To Trust

    By: Kristen L. McNulty

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

    You’ve been praying the same prayer for a long time now and you’re not seeing an answer or you’re not liking the answer you see. We’ve all been in that place and in that place we have a choice: will we trust God or won’t we?

    The temptation to not trust God is strong even though it’s what we know what we are supposed to do. We want to trust, but trusting somehow seems out of reach when the diagnosis comes in, when the divorce seems imminent, when the relationship breaks down, when the job is lost, or when the bill is due and the bank account is empty. 

    But even in that place I think we make trusting God more complicated than it needs to be. Trusting God doesn’t mean we have to know how things are going to turn out. Trusting God doesn’t mean we have to stop praying for a different outcome. The word "trust" is literally defined as the "firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something." So trusting God means putting our faith in who God is and what He can do.

    We Often Trust People We Don't Know


    We put trust in people on a daily basis. Just last week I returned from a trip where I literally placed my life in the hands of people I had never met before and I did so repeatedly. 

    I put my trust in the pilot of the plane, who I didn’t meet beforehand and get to conduct a screening of her qualifications on flying the plane or if she was thinking clearly that day. 

    I put my trust in the taxi driver who I didn’t do a background check on before hurdling down the highway with them at high speeds and with heavy traffic. 

    I put my trust in the medical staff that they knew what they were doing when they conducted tests, that they didn't mess something up or misread my health situation.

    In each of these situations I trusted that these individuals were qualified for the job they held, and therefore, I was safe with them. It’s no different when it comes to trusting God. In fact, it should be easier because we know Him. We know He is in control, that He loves us, and that His plans will prevail no matter what the obstacles are in the way.

    Trusting God means trusting that as the creator of heaven and earth and of you and of me, He is more than qualified to manage the workings of our lives. 

    Trusting God means putting our faith in who He is and what He can do, knowing that if He was capable of putting us together when we were nothing more than a few cells, He can certainly handle any problem or difficulty we might face. 

    Trusting Does Not Always Mean Understanding


    Trusting God also means surrendering our need to understand. God doesn’t ask for our understanding. We might not get why He allows the things He allows in our lives and we might not know why the situation looks like it does, but not understanding isn’t the same as not trusting. Not trusting is saying I don’t understand so I’m also not going to place my faith in you. Trusting is saying I don’t always understand why but I do choose to put my faith in who you are God and what you can do anyway. Trusting is letting Him rule our lives as Lord even if we don’t understand why He takes us down the roads He does. It’s letting Him drive without trying to grab the wheel every time we don’t like the way this section of road looks like it does or when we can’t see why He didn’t take the last exit. As Joni Erickson Tada once said:

    "Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step."


    Trusting God isn’t easy, but it is the only way we can truly be followers of Christ. Because following Christ means to be going where He leads, not where we do. 

    Trusting God is also the path that leads us to have peace, because unless we accept God’s will for our lives, we are going to be constantly fighting it and that tug of war does wear on us. But for those who trust God, they find rest follows.

    Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. Psalm 91:1-2


    And from the book of Isaiah:

    You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock. Isaiah 26:3-4


    Will you trust Him?


    So what about you? Do you trust Him? If the answer to that question is anything other than a resounding yes, then let me encourage you to explore the why and take whatever steps you need to that will result in making the choice to trust God again and again. Because it isn’t a one time decision, but rather one that must be made over and over again. After all, it’s easy to say we trust God when everything is going our way, but it’s a completely different statement when our prayers are going unanswered or the path ahead looks dark and uncertain. But it is a choice we need to make hundreds, if not thousands of time in our lives. 

    We trust God when not matter what circumstances we are in, we choose to give up control and allow Him free rein to lead us in our lives. We will never be true followers of Christ unless we learn to follow wherever He leads. And we will never get to the places He wants to lead us, unless we trust Him enough to follow Him there. You might have to walk through some valleys with God to reach the mountaintops. You might have to give up the expectation of understanding until you reach heaven. But that is what is required of us on this walk of faith, not sight.

    The Way of Trust Is Also The Way of Peace


    Closing with some of my favorite verses in the Bible that show us how the way of trust is also the way of finding peace and truly thriving in our lives here on earth.

    This is what the LORD says: "Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. "But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. Jeremiah 17:5-8


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