Knowing and Trusting
*Watch or listen to the corresponding message here.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for making the impossible possible. Thank you for making a way where there was no way. Thank you for taking me from my past—once a sinner and an enemy of yours—and bringing me into your heavenly family. From sinner to saved. From enemy to friend. As a child of yours, I lift and praise your holy name forever and ever! Amen!
Focus
The better we know God, the easier it is to trust him.
Devotional
I was at Portland International Airport one evening. I was waiting at my terminal (the one by the Good Coffee if you’ve been to the PDX airport and want to imagine the scene) for my plane to arrive. I was flying somewhere, probably to see my family down in the Bay Area, California, but I don’t remember. I had a canvas duffle bag full of clothes and was probably wearing a hat, a pair of Levi’s 511 jeans, and some slip-on Vans. I hear I look like a lot of people in Portland, like a local.
There was your typical amount of crowd hustling and bustling around. Normal airport stuff. I usually keep to myself when I’m at the airport too, but today was a little different. I saw a man looking at me a little ways off, and then he proceeded to make his way to me. He had the look and demeanor of a “talker.” Ah, I thought, this could be nice.
The man introduced himself, I gave my name, and he started chatting right away. He shared with me how he flies all over the place for work and how he likes to hang out at the bar before flights. Then, he asked me if I wanted to grab a drink. I politely declined. Nevertheless, the man looked like he was on a mission to grab a beverage before his flight. He put his bag down and then said to me: “Can you watch my bag?”
“Sure,” I replied. And the man left for the bar.
I remember thinking to myself, man, how can this guy trust me? He doesn’t even know me. Then of course I imagined that there might be a bomb in his bag and he was about to frame me for some kind of terrorist act. (Is that a normal thought? I don’t know). There was no bomb, of course. And the man returned shortly. He thanked me, picked up his bag, and was off.
I bring this story up because it makes me wonder how we come to trust someone. If a stranger came up to you and asked you if they could borrow your car, you’d probably say no because you didn’t know them and couldn’t be sure if you could trust them. But if your mom needed to borrow your car you’d let her, because you know her. You trust her. The difference between a stranger and your mother is that you know them. Therefore trust, in my mind, goes hand in hand with knowing someone.
When you know someone it is infinitely easier to trust them, especially if they are trustworthy. I can trust my family and my friends, but as the list moves on to strangers I have to trust them less. Which makes me wonder, how well do I know God? Is he on the level where I consider him a family member? Or is he kind of a stranger to me? How well I know God, I believe, directly correlates to how much I can trust him.
Peter knew Jesus. He was called by Jesus. He knew his love, personally. He witnessed his miracles. He saw Jesus feed the 5,000-15,000. When Peter saw Jesus walking on water, he knew Jesus and knew he could trust him. With Jesus' word, Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on water! This comes from deep and intimate knowledge as well as trust in Christ.
Do we know God well enough to know that he won’t let us sink?
In this devo, I’d like to challenge you. Do you ever find yourself in a place where it’s hard to trust God? I do. Oh boy, I do. Have you ever wondered that maybe the reason why it’s hard to trust God is because you don’t know him well enough? This might be the case! So how do we get to know God better? I’d like to challenge you this week to invite God into your life in a way to get to know him better. Ask him to reveal himself to you so that you can get to know his heart, his mind, his character, his plans, and whatever else he wants to reveal to you about who he is.
The better we know God, the easier it will be to trust him in all areas of our life!
There was your typical amount of crowd hustling and bustling around. Normal airport stuff. I usually keep to myself when I’m at the airport too, but today was a little different. I saw a man looking at me a little ways off, and then he proceeded to make his way to me. He had the look and demeanor of a “talker.” Ah, I thought, this could be nice.
The man introduced himself, I gave my name, and he started chatting right away. He shared with me how he flies all over the place for work and how he likes to hang out at the bar before flights. Then, he asked me if I wanted to grab a drink. I politely declined. Nevertheless, the man looked like he was on a mission to grab a beverage before his flight. He put his bag down and then said to me: “Can you watch my bag?”
“Sure,” I replied. And the man left for the bar.
I remember thinking to myself, man, how can this guy trust me? He doesn’t even know me. Then of course I imagined that there might be a bomb in his bag and he was about to frame me for some kind of terrorist act. (Is that a normal thought? I don’t know). There was no bomb, of course. And the man returned shortly. He thanked me, picked up his bag, and was off.
I bring this story up because it makes me wonder how we come to trust someone. If a stranger came up to you and asked you if they could borrow your car, you’d probably say no because you didn’t know them and couldn’t be sure if you could trust them. But if your mom needed to borrow your car you’d let her, because you know her. You trust her. The difference between a stranger and your mother is that you know them. Therefore trust, in my mind, goes hand in hand with knowing someone.
When you know someone it is infinitely easier to trust them, especially if they are trustworthy. I can trust my family and my friends, but as the list moves on to strangers I have to trust them less. Which makes me wonder, how well do I know God? Is he on the level where I consider him a family member? Or is he kind of a stranger to me? How well I know God, I believe, directly correlates to how much I can trust him.
Peter knew Jesus. He was called by Jesus. He knew his love, personally. He witnessed his miracles. He saw Jesus feed the 5,000-15,000. When Peter saw Jesus walking on water, he knew Jesus and knew he could trust him. With Jesus' word, Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on water! This comes from deep and intimate knowledge as well as trust in Christ.
Do we know God well enough to know that he won’t let us sink?
In this devo, I’d like to challenge you. Do you ever find yourself in a place where it’s hard to trust God? I do. Oh boy, I do. Have you ever wondered that maybe the reason why it’s hard to trust God is because you don’t know him well enough? This might be the case! So how do we get to know God better? I’d like to challenge you this week to invite God into your life in a way to get to know him better. Ask him to reveal himself to you so that you can get to know his heart, his mind, his character, his plans, and whatever else he wants to reveal to you about who he is.
The better we know God, the easier it will be to trust him in all areas of our life!
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