Knowing is Believing

By Kelly Chesnut, Wycliffe USA Deeply Rooted Program Director

Post date: May 20, 2019

Trust. It's not something we hand out haphazardly.

Many people don’t extend trust to someone else without it being earned first. We learn to trust people who support what they say through their actions or evidence.

We serve a God whose actions support his words. We see this throughout Scripture; God is who he says he is, and he can do what he says he can do.

But what happens when God doesn’t act the way we think he should? When things don’t turn out the way we hoped? Is he any less trustworthy? Any less believable?

There’s a big difference between believing God and believing in God. The Israelites believed in God; they saw his power at work in miraculous ways as he brought them out of Egypt. God did what he said he would do. Time and time again, he proved himself worthy of the Israelites’ trust. Yet the moment circumstances became difficult or challenging, they lost sight of his trustworthiness, his believability.

They believed in God, but they didn't believe him.

Believing God and trusting him go hand-in-hand. Trusting God doesn’t come from head knowledge; it comes from a personal relationship with him.

Sometimes I’ve been quick to let my circumstances — rather than God’s proven character — shape what I believe about him. But when I stop and look at my circumstances through the lens of my relationship with God and his trustworthiness, I respond in faith and belief. There’s a certainty that he will indeed work all things for my good, making me more like Jesus in the process.

“... I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return” (2 Timothy 1:12b, NLT).

Every opportunity that comes my way is a chance to trust God more. Through the relationship we have, I experience his love, grace and mercy at work in my life and in my circumstances.

The more I know him, the more I trust and believe him.

Questions for Reflection:

• What do you know to be true about God?

• How does that knowledge shape or reshape your perspective of your circumstances?

• In what areas is God calling you to trust him today?

Don’t forget to read and reflect more on what it means to know God with our devotional guide!

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