Over the first weeks of the New Year, we read 1 Samuel 7 and 8, seeing how the historic narrative of the people of Israel is also a prophetic message to us today. We watched as the people of Israel turned their trust from God requesting an earthly king rather than trusting God to reign supreme in their lives. What caused them to stop trusting God? Many of the same reasons we experience when we chose to do the same.
Namely, the Israelites were experiencing spiritual decay. It can happen to any of us, just like it happened to them. In many ways our ability to trust God is contingent on the quality of our relationship with Him. If we are diligent and consistent in cultivating our relationship with Him – trusting Him becomes easier and easier. Building our trust in God is much the same as we build trust in human relationships – by spending time with individuals we get to know them more making it easier to trust them. With strangers the opposite is true – it can be hard to trust them.
Our inability to trust God is a deeper sign of spiritual decay. It signals our heart has drifted from God in significant ways. You have probably heard the old proverb, “if you don’t feel close to God, guess who moved.” God does not move from us. In fact, we are promised in James 4:8, if we “draw near to God…he will draw near” to us. He also promises believers in Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Whenever we find ourselves struggling to trust God, it is a sure sign that we have moved away from Him not the other way around. As we begin the New Year seeking the wisdom to trust Him more, let us examine where we are personally. Are you struggling to trust God? Have you moved away from Him? Let’s commit right now to draw near to Him and discover He draws even nearer to us!