While suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously. 1 Peter 2:23 (NAS)
As a parent, one of the most hurtful things I experience is when I feel like my kids misunderstand my heart. It’s not so much the questioning that bothers me. It’s the attitude that goes with it—an attitude of distrust, like I’m trying to punish them rather than doing something good that they need. This is hurtful because I want them to know they can trust my heart of love—I’m doing what I do, ultimately, for their good.
I was trying to explain this to my son, how it makes no sense to distrust me when I have proven myself to be trustworthy every day of his life. Then it occurred to me that I do the same thing when I doubt God, which I’m sure I do to some degree every day. And hasn’t He proven Himself, as the hymn says, “o’er and o’er”?
The key to trusting God is to follow Jesus’s example. Imagine how unfairly He was treated, how it must have appeared that God didn’t know what He was doing, as Jesus made His way to the Cross. But the Bible says Jesus entrusted Himself because He knew God would do what was right. Unfortunately, my kids can’t know that about me. The best I can do is try to do what’s right.
I’m going to make mistakes, but I need them to trust my love anyway.
We have a better deal than that. We know Jesus knew the character of God because He was God. He trusted God’s love—and so can we.
FAITH STEP: Are you going through something that makes it hard for you to trust God in this moment? As an act of your will, follow Jesus. Keep entrusting yourself, as He did.
