A Christian Perspective on Trust

Having established that as Christians we do indeed have a different perspective on the issues we face today, let’s begin to look at them. So much can be said on these perspectives, but I hope these reflections are just enough to get you thinking, praying, studying, and living out your faith.

A perspective on trust

At a time like this, we have to ask where our trust is truly to be found.

What are people currently putting their trust in at this time of COVID-19? Is it in how well they isolate themselves? In the size of their stockpile of food and toilet paper? In the strength of their immunity? In the strength of their constitution to fight this virus? In the NHS? In the community spirit we see? In the government?

I don’t know what individuals are trusting in, and none of these things is bad or wrong per se – I too am wondering about some these same issues – they are on my mind, like everyone else. But consider of every single one of them – they are either unknowns or they are changeable. I can’t fully trust in these things because they are unknown and changeable.

Is there anything or anyone unchangeable to trust in? Only One – Psalm 90:2; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8.

My trust should be first and foremost in the God who made the universe, who knows and sees the end from the beginning, who sees with perfect sight, and who has made known to us His will, who has made known to us the end from the beginning, and has stepped in to human history to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Him I can trust no matter what happens.

If this God would be faithful enough to step into human history in the person of Jesus Christ to rescue me from sin, to rescue me from eternal death and give me eternal life, shouldn’t I be trusting Him for the outcomes in my life, through whatever the next few months bring? Shouldn’t I be trusting Him through whatever happens, knowing my end from my beginning?

My beginning was to be born into a broken and fallen world. In spite of its remaining beauty and goodness, it is a world of suffering and trouble, of aging, disease and death. This is my beginning.

My end? If Jesus Christ is real, true, historic, and is who He claimed to be (God in human form), and did what He said He would do (die on the cross to pay for my sin, rise again as proof of my being made right with God), then my end is to be with Him:

• Beyond physical death: the resurrected source of LIFE (John 17:24; Philippians 1:21-23).

• Beyond the broken, fallen, decaying world: the new heavens and the new earth (2 Peter 3:13).

• Beyond the partial and remaining beauty of this world and what it can bring me: the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

• Beyond the questions we have now: knowledge and answers, and a perfected perspective (1 Corinthians 13:12).

If Jesus is indeed who He claimed to be, then a Christian’s end is to be with Him forever, which is what 1 Thessalonians 4:17 says, and is followed by verse 18 which says we are to comfort/encourage/spur one another on with these words.

This is a Christian perspective on trust – trusting the One who never changes, through our lives and through their circumstances. Trusting Him through life, trusting Him through death. Such is the hope of the Christian because of the finished work of Christ on our behalf.

An old Hymn-writer put into verse just such a trust. The hymn appears with variations, but here are the bare bones of the first three verses:

“My times are in Your hand”

 Father I wish them there;

 My life, my soul, my all, I leave

 Entirely to Your care.

“My times are in Your hand”

 Whate’er Your will shall do;

 Pleasing or painful, dark or bright,

 As best may seem to You.

“My times are in Your hand”

 Why should I doubt or fear?

 My Father’s hand will never cause

 His child a needless tear.

If my times are in His hand, I trust Him. If I can live with such a trust, it will not only honour God, but it should deepen my faith and help me through tough times.

Notice that in the hymn above, as a reflection of the testimony of the Bible, does not say there will not be tears. Our trust in God doesn’t mean all our problems disappear. [Perhaps addressing the false teaching of “Your best life now” and “Health and wealth” is best left for another time...]. What it means is that we have that different perspective – the perspective of trust in God through a time like this. And we pray to a God who hears (1 Peter 3:12), and who understands (Hebrews 4:15).

The following are some songs that express a trust as we should have, but they are also songs of consolation, of comfort in tough times.

He’ll Hold You, by Selah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFa5auU9bPo

He Will Hold Me Fast, by Keith & Kristyn Getty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OOphIgGkjM

Your hands, by JJ Heller (Although I prefer the version by the Stutzman Family Singers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l3CEMWCxSk

Praise You In This Storm, by Casting Crowns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoqbKyeKOBI

What Am I Without You, by Twila Paris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wIu8QlK9w0

Lets us continue through this time displaying that trust we should have as Christians. We do so because Jesus Christ has proved Himself to be the one who secures for us an unbreakable bond with God, through life.

“Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the LORD.” Psalm 31:24.