DISTRUST

Molly Unreliant works as a mechanical engineer for a firm in Duluth, Minnesota. She got the job through the recommendation of a friend at church and it was an answer to prayer. Her boss is a little cantankerous but overall she enjoys the work. So it came as a surprise to her friends when she announced that she was secretly looking for a new job. They counseled her against this. Why risk losing a position God clearly provided and was blessing her in? In truth, she also felt a check from the Holy Spirit to remain where she was. Even reading her Bible she sensed God directing her to stay.

One subtle thing keeps Molly from developing an intimate relationship with her Father in heaven. She doesn't really trust Him. Growing up she watched her father, a deacon in the church, leave her mother and abandon the family for another woman. She remembers the time she prayed and asked God for help on a crucial history test in College—only to fail. She's not sure she can rely on God. She follows Him but only on her terms.

Ms. Unreliant proceeded to submit resumes with four other firms. Unbeknownst to her, one of the other managers was a personal friend of her boss. When he discovered what she was doing she was promptly fired. None of the other companies will hire her. Now she stands with the unemployed and mutters a trillion "whys."

Meditation

Deuteronomy 1:32,33—In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, Who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

Distrust can be cloaked in clever disguise. When the Israelites approached Moses about sending men to spy and then report on the Promised Land, it sounded to him like a good idea. So he sent out twelve leaders. But was it necessary to spy out the land? God faithfully led the people each day through the desert. There is no indication that when they reached Canaan His leadership would cease. In fact, because of His promise, He was committed to their successful journey. I believe that the reason the Israelites sent out spies was because they did not trust God. If their faith had been strong, they would have believed their Lord would finish what He started and fulfill what He pledged. They actually moved ahead of His leading and by so doing fell victim to their own unbelief. A plan that sounded good was flawed by ulterior motives shaped by distrust. Ten unbelieving men ratified the suspicion of a nation of doubters.

Distrust is fear-based! To be skeptical and unbelieving is to frustrate God and robs us of the blessing that He longs to provide us. I wonder what boon we miss stuck in our own desert of disbelief?

Inspiration

For when God has spoken, in precept and yet more in promise, distrust involves, at least potentially, an element of disobedience.—International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

It is distrust of God to be troubled about what is to come; impatience against God to be troubled with what is present; and anger at God to be troubled for what is past.—Simon Patrick (1625–1707) in Draper's Quotations for the Christian World