“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock…Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.”
Isaiah 26:3-4, 8 NLT
For several years the phrase “trust but verify” was something I heard from leaders and colleagues – this need to double check someone’s work to ensure they did it right. For a long time I accepted it at face value. But earlier this year I had an epiphany of sorts when I realized I can either trust or I can verify – but I can’t do both.
Trust is often a choice. Albeit a choice that comes out of relationship or position, but trust is something we choose to give or to have. To trust, or to bâṭach, (baw-takh’), means to be confident or sure or to put confidence and hope in.
I understand trusting G-d is different than trusting in man. However, I can SHOW my trust in my husband, family, friends, and colleagues by taking them at their word and not following up, I can, and should, SHOW my trust in G-d by walking in obedience and following His ways. Complaining or questioning is not the sound of trust – thanksgiving and praise is.
Inevitably people will let me down and inevitably I will have times of not understanding G-d’s ways or delays, but, I can choose my response: peace and thanksgiving or fretting and verifying. Since it takes more muscles to frown than smile, I’ll endeavor to choose peace and thanksgiving- I have too many wrinkles as it is.
Father, thank You for Your Word. Forgive me of doubt and complaints. Thank You for Your mercy and forgiveness. You are good and You keep doing good. Your leadership in my life is perfect and You can be trusted. Amen.
Daily Reading: Isaiah 23-27
July 18, 2022
2 responses to “Show My Trust ”
I appreciate your post because I know there are times when distrust has played a damaging role in relationship building and maintaining.
I’m wondering whether you see a connection between “trust but verify” and either “wise as serpents but harmless as doves” or the example of the Bereans?
At one point in my life I trusted without verification and I lost a small fortune… and a friendship.
15 years later I repeated this mistake. Today I am very much in the “don’t trust until you have repeatedly verified camp.” My trust has to be earned, so verification is a natural process.
At some point, trust with me IS earned and I spend very little to no time verifying unless the person speaking is speaking outside the realm of their expertise. I still take it on a case by case basis.
I trust my doctor, but he’s not a pastor or a psychologist. I trust my neighbor, but he’s not my lifelong friend.
I look for multiple angles to everything and like to bring up the contrarian views as a personal practice. All my comments are meant to be good natured, sometimes challenging, but always appreciative.
Daniel – thank you for reading and commenting. I write in obedience – I had no idea people read! That aside, you bring up such a great point for me to consider. when I wrote this, I was envisioning trusting without verifying things of minimal consequence. In reality, for newer relationships, I do “verify” HIGH stakes asks. I suppose trust grows like a bank account, the more trust I have, the less I verify. The greater the risk, the greater the need to verify. Perhaps in between trust and verifying is wisdom. I’ve been bit recently by trusting and verifying someone close – we lost a lot. But in the middle, I didn’t use a lot of wisdom. I wonder if that’s the balance. I so appreciate your perspective and willingness to ask a hard question. You are iron sharpening iron, friend. Thank you. blessings to you and yours today.