When Trust Meets Faith

Pray, Wait, Trust.

I came across this phrase a few months ago while I was searching the web. My initial response was what seemed to be in total agreement. However, it followed by a subtle sentiment of disbelief. I do not think I recognized this response right away, because I more so subconsciously felt the ache of memories and experiences that have impacted my life.

Oh, but there was an invitation happening in that split second. God was allowing something to stir, a little shift, and even discomfort in order to pave a way into something he wanted to speak into. Through it, I feel like God was using a different format to turn my attention towards Him.

Just take a moment to think about how many times a day or even a minute we come across these short mantras around social media. We like, comment, and maybe repost, because we live in a society where posting and repost is our norm. This could of been one of those moments for me; a like and scroll by moment. However, the more I thought about it, I began to realize that there was a wrestle rising within me.

There was a clash of contradiction in my heart. The space that loves God, and knows that He is always good, yet on the other hand, the experiences in my life that at times have left me feeling disappointed. I was not going to let this moment slip away. It was then when I began to reflect a little deeper on those three words, along with their profound meaning, and the power that they formed as a whole.

This is the way I picture it. Sometimes there are prayer categories or slots in our minds, and depending on the personal trial and expectation, along with the intensity of the need within the prayer. One prayer might feel like a no brainer, while others seem like wishful thinking. For some, it might be waiting for financial breakthrough, a battle with health, or the restoration of a family member. For others, it might be waiting for the end to many miscarriages and the beginning of a family, or like myself, your waiting for a spouse and hoping God answers my prayers soon. The list goes on.

We all have these wedges in our heart where we desire, hope, dream, pray, and wait for God to answer.

I have come to realize that knowing that God is faithful to fulfil his promises in His perfect timing, is not the same thing as believing and trusting that God is faithful, and that He has perfect timing. I see is as allowing him to walk through the armed guards that we use to self-protect us from the fear of disappointment.

Believe me, I have been there. I have prayed for specific desires of my heart that God has not answered yet, and it can be frustrating, and for lack of better words, annoying. Waiting almost feels like an inevitable plan that no one really loves, yet it is hardwired into our daily lives and stories.

So who did it best? Who knew how to wait well?

I came across a story in the Bible of a man who in my opinion, led the waiting game the best of all. He set the bar high, and chose to believe God through all of his uncertainties. Not to mention, he was not alive to see his biggest promise from God fulfilled.

"...indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies." Genesis 22:17

If you don't know yet, I'm talking about Abraham. He was a man who believed well. He was like you and I. A man with flaws and doubts, and he was not perfect in anyway. This man received a word from the Lord that could not be fathomed by any human thought. I have imagined Abraham wondering if he heard God well, or asking himself multiple times if perhaps God forgot his promise towards him.

Hebrews 11: 12-13,19 says, "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, and in a foreign land, living in tents...therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by seashore. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised...By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promise was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, though Isaac shall your offspring be named."

What stands out the most to me is the word, faith. Faith is defined as complete trust or confidence in someone or something. It all comes down to where is my faith, or who do I put my confidence and trust in. I see it as faith and trust being interchangeable. There is no trusting God, if we do not tap into the mystery of faith.

Hebrews 11: 1 says it so well. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

It means that I do not need a visible or tangible experience to help me place my complete trust and faith in Jesus. When I think about how simple it sounds, I realize that my next step is to ask God, the root to my lack of faith. By allowing him to take me to the places in my heart where trust and faith may dwindle.

It is not a matter of if God answer my prayers, it is a matter of how will I wait for the promises unseen. I hope and pray that our hearts would be postured to follow thoroughly, like Abraham, believing without ever having to see.

Just imagine the endless possibilities when a people learn to fully pray, wait, and trust well.