Can I Really Trust You?

My son and I recently spent the day at Stone Mountain, the world's largest exposed piece of granite, riding the Skyride and hiking down the steep western border.

There are also smaller chunks of granite around the park that made for great places to run, jump, and play hide-and-seek.

As my son's courage continued to grow, I told him to jump off the rocks into my arms. "I'll catch you! Just jump! You can trust me!" And as he hesitated and considered all the possible outcomes he said, "Can I really trust you?"

I'm his dad. There's nothing more important to me than loving and protecting and providing for my son. And he's going to ask if he can trust me?

But how often are we guilty of asking the same question?

Can I really trust you?

Trust is a "firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something."

Because we've been let down by others' unreliability we find ourselves holding loosely in our minds any real belief that we can trust them. Our hopes have been stripped from the firm grasp of placing our lives, our emotions, our future in their hands.

Broken trust can leave us basking in the rays of relational conflict. Where we find ourselves drowning in the tears of misplaced trust. Strangling on the words of broken promises. Carrying the bags of betrayal to the next street corner of frustration and insecurity.

And then people want to come offer their opinions and advice. "You have every right to be upset. You don't need them. Their time's coming. Forget them. Take some time away."

Even the religious crowd wants to chime in. "Well, you know everything happens for a reason. God is working all things together for good. Vengeance is Mine thus saith the Lord."  

But when someone's trust has been violated they don't necessarily need our high and lofty opinions. They don't even really need our coffee cup verses from the Bible. What they need, what I needed, is someone to be present. Someone to be remain faithful. Someone they can trust.

My son jumped, not because I told him to jump, but because he quickly replayed in his mind all the times I had been there before. He asked if he could trust me but he already knew the answer. He knew I would catch him!

Remember, I said that my priority was to love and protect and provide for my son. I'm His father. And my Father, perhaps your Father, is doing the same for me. He's loving and protecting and providing for me. He's building my trust in Him.

Spurgeon once spoke these words, "God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”

I may not always see the way He sees but I'm learning to trust Him anyway. Why? Even though His ways and thoughts are higher, He's always been present and faithful. He's never forsaken me. He's never abandoned me. He's never let me down on one single promise. He's a good good Father!