In Scripture, we are both commanded and invited by God to fear him and love him. We come to obey these commandments in much the same way that a husband and a wife come to love and respect one another. In the same way we establish any deep friendship or relationship. By coming to a place where we have trust in that person. 

How is Trust Established?

Think of a person you trust. How did you come to trust that person? Have you known them your whole life or were you introduced to them? Have you always trusted them? No matter how you answer these questions, all relationships that have trust will have a story of how that trust was established. You’ve spent time with this person. You’ve watched them, endured hardship with them, seen their character. You know them at a very deep level. You’ve lived life with them and have decided that they are trustworthy. 

Are we able to leave these facts behind in coming to trust God, or does this very same process happen in our relationship with him? Whether your trust in God is rock-solid or you often find yourself doubting his trustworthiness, it is good to consider this process of establishing trust. It is good to walk back through your relationship with God and ask yourself these questions:

• How you were introduced to him?
• What have you walked through together that has established trust?
• Who are some of the people that helped you see God’s character?

Marriage as God’s Analogy

God gave us a beautiful analogy in Scripture, through marriage, that shows us an example of the life-long trust-building that we experience with God. There is so much that could be unpacked in this analogy, but at a minimum, consider the relationship between love, respect, and trust in marriage. These all work together and flow from one another. These were all fractured at the fall, when sin infected our ability to love, respect, and trust both God and spouse. But, God’s move toward us in love through Jesus has inspired our love, respect, and trust in Him and continues to move outward in restoring love, trust, and respect in marriages and other relationships. 

In Ephesians 5:21-33, we are given instructions for the restored and redeemed marriage that existed in Genesis 2 when God made Eve and brought her to Adam. Adam, with full delight in and thankfulness for Eve, said “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”. Eve, no other experience from Adam than being cherished and delighted in, trusted him. Love, respect, and trust flowed freely. This same harmony is restored and redeemed in Christ-centered marriages! Not fully, granted, as sin still affects our broken world. But, we receive continually in the Gospel the grace needed to restore the love, trust, and respect that God instilled by design in the first union between Adam and Eve.

If you are married, consider how you can be trustworthy. How can you love your wife sacrificially, as you have been loved? How you can show respect as a grace to your husband, not because he has earned it, but because the One whom you trust has commanded it? 

An Invitation to Walk With God

So now, may we walk with God, asking him for the gift of trust. May we walk with him and see that he is trustworthy. Walk through difficulty and endure hardship with him. Tell him when you are struggling to trust him and tell him why. Spend time with him, listening and talking. Spend time in fellowship with those who have been walking with him longer than you. God made us in the beginning to be with him and we will be with him at the end. Lord, help us to walk with you now, living in the already-but-not-yet of your kingdom coming here on Earth as it is in Heaven.