A question of trust

Last night at Bible study, the leader said something that got me thinking. He was talking about trust and saying that we, as humans, will only trust if we have a track record to go by. For example, we trust someone with our money if we know that so far he is an honest person and handles money well. He was talking about how we trust God because of His track record of proving Himself to us.

Pardon me, but I have to disagree. I believe that our trust in God is very unique. Everything about our relationship with God is unlike our relationships with one another. The beauty of trust in God is that we can trust Him simply because He is God, and we don't have to base our trust in Him on His proving Himself. For example, take someone who has never had a relationship with God or been to church, etc., and then decides to give their life to the Lord. They put their faith in Him because God gives them grace to do so (see Ephesians chapter 2) and because they simply make the choice.

There have been times in my life when I don't know why I am in a particular situation or I don't know what the future will be like...and, yes, during these times I do count on the fact that the last time I was in this position, God brought me through. So I don't completely discredit this notion. However, this would be when a person is at a mature point spiritually.

What about the times when you or I wonder where God was when such-and-such happened? What about when we doubt Him? There have been times in my life when I was so hurt and betrayed by others that I wondered why I should trust God. In those times, you may not be able to see clearly a record of God's faithfulness to you. In fact, you may even be angry at God, which I have been before. That is when you CHOOSE to BLINDLY trust. I use the word blindly not to indicate it is dumb, of course, but to say that you may not feel you can trust or you may not be convinced that trusting will lead to safety and reassurance...but you choose to trust anyway.

Even Jesus mentioned this kind of trust. He had been raised from the dead, and the disciples had discovered Him walking among them. At this point, Jesus said (John 20:29), "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."