Here’s the ugly truth: We don’t like to trust God.

We talk about it, sing songs about it, and make beautiful art about it, but we’re not very good at actually trusting in God alone.

Trusting God means I’m not trusting myself. It means I’m not trying to figure the problem out as if I’m the only one with the answers. It means I’m not leaning on my abilities or resources as if they are what will get me through life.

Trusting God is hard because I don’t know exactly what he’s going to do. I don’t know what he has planned specifically, as it relates to this problem right in front of me. I know how I would like it to work out, but I don’t know what he has in mind. I don’t like to release my grip on the situation.

Trusting God is hard because I can’t always see him working. Sometimes I see his hand at work. But other times it feels like I’m in the dark and there’s no light ahead.

I can’t stop being convicted by this catechism my kids and I are learning:

“What is idolatry?
Idolatry is trusting in created things rather than the Creator.”
New City Catechism

It’s always easier to trust in a created thing because we can see it.

You can see a home, possessions, bank account, and steady relationship.
You can’t see the God who gave you those things.

So it’s easier to put your hope in that paycheck or close friend.
Until it’s gone.

Until the paycheck stops coming and you receive a lifelong diagnosis.
Until the marriage you thought was stable turns sour.

Maybe that’s why God allows changes in our lives? To teach us that created things are not worth our trust.

Only the unseen one—our Creator God—is worthy of our complete trust and hope.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
Psalm 20:7

Prepare those chariots and horses for battle! But don’t put your trust in them.
Work to be prudent in your finances! Build relationships with those God has placed in your life! But don’t put your trust in them. They are created things that cannot save you.

Only God can save your soul.
Only he is worthy of your trust.