Trust builds to Faith
Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield: my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices.
Psalm 56:3-4 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Proverbs 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.
Isaiah 41:10 Do not fear, for I am with you Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will help you.
Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Romans 8:28 And we know that things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Hebrews 11:1,3, 6 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. . . By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible . . . But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him
Faith is built on a relationship and the trust in the other person or member of the relationship. One can have a casual, social relationship when non-deep things are passed—weather, over-work, buying new objects, and casual mention of things you might have in common. Part of building faith is waiting–we test and observe the faithfulness, build the trust, to reassure that you will not be letdown, forgotten, betrayed, or helped when you need it.
Trust builds up when what is shared is deeper, discussing feelings, opening and being slightly more vulnerable with another. We do not share deeper emotional scars, vulnerabilities, or guilt without a bit of trust between the parties. Opening your feelings, emotions or experiences to others takes some trust. No one wants to be judged or take the risk that someone will negatively not like you or your choices and decisions.
As trust in another builds—you begin to learn they will not betray you, they will listen, not judge, and not spread your story to another without your permission. Trust takes a matter of time to grow. It depends on how often you are with the other, what is discussed and shared, if both parties feel respected and accepted. Any indication that one of the parties is being judged or found lacking, the walls go up and trust stops and even may decrease.
Trust isn’t just a passive belief but taking an active role in a relationship. Vulnerability, shared experiences, common interests all help to build times so see another in action and build a strong foundation, and then more of a faith relationship. You have faith the other is not going to use your vulnerabilities against you, will not purposely hurt you or misuse you and what you have shared. it is the same when we come to trust and faith in God. Our faith grows, we understand Him more and hear from Him easier, and find out paths lit. He will never leave nor forsake us. (psalm 119:105)
Faith requires some amount of trust. And we can turn to God in a crisis and know He saved us from whatever the event. But if another major worry or hurt comes up, then we may question and the longer it takes to go through the wilderness, the more our faith can become shaken. Yet, it is the walks through the wilderness, and once we arrive at the other side, our faith, perseverance, and strength have all increased. When we feel over-loaded with problems—illness, children involved in drugs, unemployment, a poor marriage and it feels as though you are smothering, that faith and trust can become wobbly.
God will reassure us and answer us. He wants you to have faith in reaching out for a relationship with Him. This is truly why He created mankind. He wanted a relationship with each of us. But we are a selfish, stubborn, self-serving lot and we do not always choose to live according to the commands God has given us. We seem to believe we create our own lives and destiny. But we can make some dreadful mistakes, and keep rowing the same leaky canoe, believing we can fix whatever is wrong. And we end up paddling frantically in a sinking boat.
There are many people in the bible who did not have a lot of faith and then came to it after a “meet” with God. One of these is Gideon. Gideon was the youngest son in this family, and his clan from Manasseh was the smallest and weakest among all the Hebrew families. He certainly had no confidence in himself. But “the angel of the Lord” came to him and His greeting was “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
That was the start of their relationship. Gideon was pleased, and wanted to show the Lord a sacrifice, so he cooked a meal and served it. The Lord burned the sacrifice with a touch of His staff. How honored Gideon felt when he realized he had been with the Lord—God the creator. He had seen him face to face and lived to tell about it. But the Lord had offered him the reassurance of peace and told him not to be afraid.
But the Lord had told Gideon he would defeat the Midianites who were burning all the crops, terrorizing the Israelites and forcing them to live in cliffs and caves, always hiding what little they had and trying to escape any contact with the Midianites. Gideon had told the angel of the Lord he certainly did not feel as though he was a mighty warrior. But Gideon had received reassurance from the Lord that He would defeat the Midianites, leaving none alive.
So was the beginning of Gideon’s relationship with God. He received reassurance after stating the Midianites were destroying them and asking how the Israelites would receive help from their attacks and from having foods being destroyed.
His belief was so profound that he eliminated most of the people who had joined him to defeat the Midianites per God’s way to have most return home. Any who were afraid, could return back; He then had Gideon take them to the water so they could drink, and the manner in how they drank—those who lapped water from their hands, a total of 300 men were allowed to fight.
But to further build Gideon’s confidence, God had Gideon and his servant Purah to sneak down to the Midianite camp. There they found countless men, numerous camels and it certainly looked like the Israelites would be slaughtered. But God allowed them to hear one man’s dream and the other’s interpretation, and it was clear the interpreter believed they would all be defeated by the Israelites. But it was confidence Gideon needed to know that God had already caused him to win this battle.
He divided the men into three groups of 100 each, gave them items to make loud banging noises, and trumpets (the sound of war approaching) The men had their torches, their trumpets and as they surrounded the edge of the Midianite camp, they blew their trumpets and hollered, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” They stood still, 300 men surrounding the camp.
The Midianites fled back toward their home and were pursued by the Israelites and all Gideon called for the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim to follow and conquer. His trust and faith had him and the 300 men chasing and defeating totally, even without assistance of food as they fled through some of the smaller towns which were being bullied by the Midianites. But God ensured the Midianites were defeated by Gideon and the band of 300. God wins the battles and t took some testing, silly, things like an available close parking spot, and other simple things, but the trust built. The more I read, listened to pastors, and studied, surrounding myself with other Christians, my faith built. My life is so much more quiet, dependable, without huge stress or worries, because I know He has whatever, and He holds me in His hands.
If you ask something according to His will, it will be given, prayer answered. I may not be in your timing, but it will come to pass. “Seeing God’s faithfulness builds faith in all of us” Bobby Owings sermon Jan 31, 2025
Hearing the initial meeting of God and Gideon, and then Gideon testing God and IF he had really been told he was strong and he had been chosen to defeat the Midianites. It was the day, I chose to follow Jesus and make Him my Savior. Thank You God, that this story brought me to You, and You have steadily been with me and ‘mybellaviews.’
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