Trusting or “Trusting for”?

It occurred to me the other day how often Christians say we’re "trusting God for" this or that. As in, "I’m trusting God for provision" or "I’m trusting God for a husband" or "I’m trusting God for a new Audi TT convertible."

It occurred to me the other day how often Christians say we’re "trusting God for" this or that. As in, "I’m trusting God for provision" or "I’m trusting God for a husband" or "I’m trusting God for a new Audi TT convertible."

It’s easy to trust someone for something. We do it all the time–we trust people for the limited, defined, agreed upon task we delegate to them.  I trust my bank for safe keeping of my money because it’s regulated and been in business for a long time. I trust my doctor for her diagnosis and ability to treat me because she’s been to med school and supposedly knows what she’s doing. I trust them to do what I delegated to them. 

When I say I’m trusting God for something, it’s often no different. I say that I’m trusting Him, but what I really mean is "I’ve already picked out the solution I want and now I’m waiting for God to hurry up and implement my plan."

Sounds harsh, but it’s not too far from the truth, is it? We think that we’re full of faith when we’re "trusting for". But whatever happened to just trusting God…period?

When I truly trust God, I’m trusting that what He thinks is better than what I think. I’m trusting that His character is pure and His plan for me is good. When I trust God, I recognize that I’m His, and that He has the right to do with my life whatever He wants, not just what I want. I stop trying to delegate upwards and begin submit to His authority.
I give Him carte blanche.

And here’s the deal: that’s where the adventure is. Take Abram for example:  [Bible]Gen 12:1[/Bible].
If Abram stayed at home, only trusting God for his lists of wants, he’d never be Abraham, on the road with God.

And when Jesus called Simon, he called him to adventure:

[Bible]Mt 4:19[/Bible] But if Simon hadn’t followed, he’d have never become Peter, walking on water with next to Jesus.

It’s not wrong to bring your needs to God–the Bible instructs us to do that. But that’s where the trust begins, not ends. After all our "trust fors", we need to hand over the total trust–the kind of trust that says, "wherever you go, I’ll follow; whatever you want, I’m in." It’s the Abraham trust, the Peter trust, the full-out, look-Ma-no-hands-Trust.

And that’s when the fun begins!