“The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” Jn. 4:50
Here is something we learned from buying a used car last year that had hidden problems and took five attempts to fix: You can’t take dealers and mechanics at their word. Two of the five mechanics involved did have good, honest, intentions. But even the best of intentions and efforts couldn’t “heal” the car. They only hoped and wished it could, and their word was based on those hopes and wishes, not on limitless ability and authority to make it happen.
Unlike people, the Lord/Jesus does have both good intentions and limitless ability and authority to meet our needs. Jn. 4:46-53 tells of a royal official from Capernaum who’d heard of Jesus’ miracles and went to Him in Cana to beg Him to heal his “close to death” son. Jesus chides him and others around for looking for signs and wonders, to which the official responds “’Sir, come down before my child dies!’” (v.49). In other words, “I’m not here to see a show or for you to prove yourself. I’m here because I trust you to meet this urgent need of healing my son!” Jesus responds to the official’s blunt expression of trust with, “’You may go. Your son will love.’”
Said and done. The official expectantly hopes and trusts he can take Jesus at His word and receives confirmation on the way home that his son was healed, and exactly when. This firmed up his faith in Jesus, and made his whole household believe as well.
We found out we couldn’t take the car dealers and mechanics at their word, even those that meant well. But we could take the Lord at His word. While all this back and forth of our car was going on, we were trusting Him to solve the issue and protect us and our finances. Which He did. Sure, we suffered a bit of inconvenience. But we ended up with a new engine with zero miles on it and some other new parts, and a good, safe, reliable, car to drive and ride in!
Thankfully, the Lord has no limits in trustworthiness or ability. Like the official whose son Jesus healed, the more we take Jesus/the Lord at His Word, the more we find out we can trust Him. He never disappoints us or lets us down.
What keeps us from believing that? What makes it hard for us to trust Him?
- Past experience – We feel like He’s let us down before, so we’re afraid He’ll disappoint us again. It’s a sense of “You weren’t there for me before, you didn’t help me when…., so I can’t really trust you now.”
- Lack of really knowing Him— Not comprehending His character enough to be sure of what He will and won’t do, or can do, in any situation. This creates uncertainty when we encounter trials and challenges, or have hopes and dreams. We don’t know what we can ask or expect from Him.
- Listening to the wrong people— Naysayers, skeptics, doubters, those with bitterness toward Him, will all tell us things about Him based on their own warped thinking. They can plant seeds-in-kind (negativism, skepticism, doubt, and bitterness) in our hearts if we let them. We’ll know when those seeds germinate when we start thinking “It’s just like they said…” and/or “What if…?”
- Lies of the enemy—that sound like good reasoning in our head—Like the above, except the enemy is a lot more subtle and crafty in making us think we’re telling ourselves the truth.
How do we overcome all these truth-killers?
1. Don’t blame God for past hurt—Sinful people, a fallen world, and their bad effects on us aren’t His fault. Could He have protected us from them? Yes. Why didn’t He? Whole books have been written on the problem of pain, evil, and suffering. This issue goes beyond a few sentences here. But Scripture gives us some solid assurance to go on that He intends the best and will bring it about, even if it takes much longer than we’d like. For example:
Rom. 8:28-29— “God works all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” Ultimately that purpose is to be conformed to the image of Christ.
Gen. 50:20— “You intended to harm me, but God meant it for good, to accomplish what is now being done…” Joseph told this to his brothers who’d caused him many years of trial and anguish, but “the Lord was with Joseph” (Gen. 39:2, 20) the whole time, working behind the scenes, and Joseph recognized this.
Jer. 29:11—“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’”
2. Get to know Him better—Spend time with Him, have conversations with Him (pray), read His Word often and thoroughly, intentionally look for and enjoy evidence of His creative and redemptive work (nature, beauty, kindness, good things, etc.). It’s what we do with people we want to get to know, so why not do the same with the Lord?
“…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Eph. 3:17-19
3. Don’t listen to negative talk– When people share their poisoned and warped thinking, be empathetic toward their feelings, but don’t let them influence us with their thoughts! Guard the soil of our hearts so none of that poisonous plant penetrates, let alone germinates in our thought life! “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.” (Prov. 4:23)
4. Examine our thought life— Notice what we’re thinking of, how we’re thinking, and ruthlessly eliminate whatever isn’t true or helpful. Realize we have an enemy who wants to take us down and separate us from the Lord. Well-intentioned negative and skeptical people are bad enough, but the enemy wants us to believe wrong things about Him, so we won’t trust Him! Don’t let that happen. Instead, “…take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:5). And “…test the spirits to see if they are from God…” (1 Jn. 4:1)
Trusting the Lord takes time and intention. But life goes so much better knowing we can take Him at His word!
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