Part 6 in the Honoring God During Divorce series.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust blindly. Respect I give liberally because God created us all in His image (Gen. 1:27) and for His purpose (Jer. 29:11, Eph. 2:10). But trust...I can be a bit stingy with it. You have to earn that.
I think we do a disservice to ourselves and new believers when we assert that faith is all we need. Whatever the struggle, the answer is more faith. I find that response insulting to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2), and Who determines how much faith each person receives (Rom. 12:3).
What we need is to learn to trust God. When we face persecution, have done our best, walked in integrity – and we don’t get the desired result(s). In fact, things have gone completely sideways. It hurts and makes no sense. The answer is to trust God.
Morris (2016) explains that “faith is a noun. It is something you have or possess...” It’s the gift that Jesus gave us. Trust is a verb and “is a willful choice, a deliberate action, and can only grow out of your faith.”
So, how do we learn to trust God? According to God, we learn to trust Him by experience.
God repeatedly declares that His people “will know that I am God.” The Amplified Bible translates the Hebrew word know as “recognize, understand, and be acquainted with.” The Greek word is translated as “perceive, have knowledge of, get acquainted by experience, and thoroughly by ever-increasing experience.”
What does this look like during divorce?
Faith in God through Jesus is the bedrock upon which you are building. Trust does the heavy lifting; it is the activated believing that fuels your words and actions. It enables you to work through the steps of Honoring God During Divorce, i.e., Gather the Troops, Feel All the Feels – Then Resolve to Do What’s Right Anyway, Let God Be Your Vindicator, and Protect Your Children During Divorce.
Trusting God puts feet to your faith. It’s one thing to believe God is able and another to believe He is willing (Mk. 1:41). An exercise I often suggest is to create a book of remembrance (Mal. 3:16) of your own. As far back as you can remember – before you received saving faith until the present day, write down every time to Lord pulled your iron out of the fire.
When your trust waivers and you are clinging to your tattered faith, read your book. Remind yourself of God’s trustworthiness and faithfulness to you. “Faithful is He Who is calling you [to Himself] and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it [fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you]” (I Thess. 5:24).
In the end, divorce is a spiritual battle. When you wage war God’s way, you have the ultimate eternal victory – a deeper relationship with Him and trust built through experiencing Him in ways otherwise impossible.
Angela W. Startz, MAHSC, CCLC
Reference
Morris, H. M. (2016, July 29). Faith vs. Trust. Institute for Creation Research.
