“Do you trust me?” These words spoken by Aladdin in the original Disney movie keep coming to mind. Aladdin urged Jasmine to trust him multiple times in this classic film from my childhood. He asked her to trust as they jumped to safety away from the police. He also encouraged her to trust him and step onto the magic carpet for an adventure of a lifetime.
Trust is at the core of Christianity. If you have faith in God, you trust Him.
When thinking about the spiritual implications of these scenarios in Aladdin (silly) and our relationship with God (serious):
Do we trust God to help us when we’re in trouble? Yes, but let’s be honest about our knee-jerk reactions. He is not the first person we call when we’ve lost our keys or need financial assistance. He is not the first person we run to when we need to vent about a problem. Often we count on God only after all other plans have been exhausted and all other strategies to resolve the problem leave no realistic solution.
Do we trust God to take us on an adventure of a lifetime? Yes and no. Magic carpets aside, following God and trusting Him creates the opportunity to see and do things we could never imagine.
Do we trust Him when He wants us to leap into something that is unknown but exciting? When we’ve wanted this adventure for a long time, we are ready to jump. What about when it is an unexpected opportunity that we never planned for or even thought we wanted? Will we jump then as well?
In moments of stress lately, I hear these five words: “Joy, do you trust Me?” It’s easy to say I trust God about life in general. In my line of work, I’m supposed to trust God. Yet, it’s another challenge to trust Him when circumstances overwhelm or when the road twists and turns unexpectedly.
My work with people who suffer intensely forces me to ponder many of the hardest questions about life and God. How do the women I work with trust God after all they’ve experienced? I can’t explain it, but they do. They want to be close to God. They want to pray. They want to sing and spend time in His presence.
If trust is at the core of following God, how can I encourage myself and those I work with to trust Him more? We build trust in the same ways everyone else does.
- Time—spending moments with God helps us build trust in Him.
- Honest sharing—telling Him how we are feeling, thinking, and doing opens the lines of communication.
- Slowly opening up to God—sharing about the deepest hurts and biggest dreams allows us to grow closer to God and receive healing.
- Observing what He does and says—Listening to God through scripture and in times of prayer, watching as He responds to our requests and helps us in our daily lives all develops trust.
Whatever you are facing in this season, may your trust in God increase exponentially and may you find the magic carpet moments with God better than you could’ve hoped.