A Different Level of Trust

Trust is an interesting thing that we seem to learn more and more about as we grow older. We begin to learn what trust is from a very early age in our families of origin. We then go on to learn that there are some people we trust and others we may not. Then as we get older we learn that there are different degrees of trust. We may trust someone to hold something for us, but not give them the keys to our homes. This word continues to grow in its meaning to us as we learn that trust can be both given, earned, and also lost. Trust is an interesting concept for us.

I’ll always remember the team-building courses I participated in as a youth. Whether it was in scouting, school leadership, or even in some of my first jobs we all participated in a trust fall exercise. I am sure you may be familiar with this common exercise in which someone falls backwards and others in the group catch them. It requires the person falling to trust in the others for their safety, especially if they are on an elevated surface! While this exercise is quite silly, it does begin to demonstrate trust in a small way amongst the team.

Recently, I encountered a much different level of trust. As the wind storms and tornadoes swept through our county I found myself grabbing my family to go down to shelter. I’ve grown up in the midwest so storms are not an uncommon occurrence for me to navigate…but this time was different. This time I had to grab my son from his bed and carry him to a safe place. As I did this I was worried I would wake him, that the sounds outside would scare him, and that we would be in for a long night that would turn into a long day. However, something much different happened; he simply slept contently in his father’s arms without a single worry. He inherently trusted me on a much different level; This was the deepest level of trust I’ve ever seen. 

There is a familiar passage in Proverbs 3:5 that says “Trust in the LORD with all your heart.” Upon closer examination of this familiar passage, I discovered that the original language and culture would have understood this in a much deeper way. They would have understood that their level of trust in God was the same as the subconscious dependence on the human body to breathe and the heart to beat. This is the kind of trust that the Lord invites us to have in him, and I was privileged to get just a glimpse of it through my son.

Grace and Peace,

Austin