Can God Be Trusted?

Posted on November 29, 2019 by Graeme Wilson in Freedom Fighters

Who could you call, text, or message right now, and they would answer and drop everything else and help you?

Who would do this without passing some kind of judgment or talk about your weaknesses?

Who would meet all your needs because they love you, asking nothing in return?

Who can you trust with your life?

These are some tough questions when seriously considered and answered honestly. There are a few names I can respond with for each item, there is one person I know who would do their best to be the answer in every category. But in reality, we can’t do it. I have sat by enough bedsides to know how helpless we are, and I have heard the frail responses of the medical staff as they admit, ‘we just don’t know.’

So, who can you trust with your life? Solomon tells us, “Trust in and rely confidently on the LORD with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth, removing obstacles that block your way.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 AMP)

Okay, but why would I do that? The question I must honestly answer then is, ‘Has God ever broken a promise or failed to come through on what He said He would do? I could answer that by quoting a lot of Bible stories and verses, and that would be enough to prove that God is faithful. But that’s only half of the equation, God didn’t invite us into an academic relationship, He asked us to join Him in a covenant relationship established in perfect love. I know without a doubt that God is faithful. In every instance, no matter the circumstance, or how great the odds, His will has been done. He has built up my faith, He has healed my broken heart that couldn’t see past its own frustrations, He has sustained me when I was at my weakest moments. To Christ, I owe everything, and I enjoy His blessing only because I said ‘I do” to obeying His Word and trusting the work of the Spirit in and through my life. I wish I could go back and tell my struggling younger self how real all these things are… I can’t do that, but I can say it to you. I can hope you will hear and know that God is faithful, and you can trust him now. You can know all of His blessings by walking in His way from a much earlier time than I.

There is one thing about God and the gift of His Son that sticks out among so many other truths; one big argument for why I can trust Him… That thing is this; ‘While I was yet a sinner, someone who hated God, and was living in a manner that left Him entirely out of my life, He already died in my place.” (Romans 5:8) There have been people who may have died for what they thought were ‘good’ causes or may have sacrificed for so-called ‘good’ people; But Jesus sacrificed himself for sinners, for the very people who hated him. And while He was doing that, He prayed, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) For me, God went to every length, at a high cost to Himself; to fulfill every promise… there is nothing He has left undone in His redemption plan. With this being the case, you can be guaranteed His work of sanctifying us will accomplish its purpose, and He will bring all who have called on His Name home to glory.

I have heard all the arguments about why this isn’t true. If you play each one out honestly, you will find they have no rational basis, only a willful rejection of the truth. Even here in deliberate refusal, you will find God loving you. Love is a rational choice that cannot be coerced. God, in His grace, has given us the capacity to discern and choose freely what we want. And in His loving kindness, God tells us up front what the consequences are, He makes way for us to be holy as He is holy through the loving sacrifice of His only begotten Son, and God freely gives us over to the desires of our heart. Who better to trust than

the One who has accomplished all this without asking you for anything; or forcing you to accept His gracious offer?

When my heart attack took over, and I began to fade away, I knew whether I woke up in Heaven or in the hospital; there would be one person who would be fighting for me, no matter what… even if she does read her books upside down in stressful situations. If there is this one person who, in our human frailties, can show that kind of faithful love, isn’t there also then a greater being who is the pattern and source of perfect love, and in whom you can trust to never leave you nor forsake you? Is there also then someone who is a true refuge in any circumstance, and loves you sacrificially, having already given their own life for you?

Because of perfect love, the choice to believe is yours. All the evidence and arguments have been presented, God who is light, and no darkness resides in Him, is offering you complete rest from your weary struggle of finding purpose, meaning, security, hope, and love. He will not coerce you to come to Him because He loves you to death. The choice is yours to enter into the light of His presence through the perfect way He offers. The choice is also yours to reject His love and move off into the darkness of your own willfulness and egocentric desires.

Written by David Brown: David Brown is a husband, father, and grandfather with a Masters of Religious Studies and a Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religions. Dave is a member of Pemberton’s First Baptist Church.

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Think About This: Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? – Corrie ten Boom

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. ~Jeremiah 17:9-10

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the doctrinal and theological views held by America’s Keswick.