by Leon

Faith will lead to Trust – Fear will lead to Distrust

Since the fall of mankind in the Garden, we as humans began to experience distrust. The Bible tells us when humankind first sinned, they hid from God. This is the first example and origin of distrust. Adam & Eve feared what God might do to them for their disobedience. This led to further distrust. Adam told God that it was Eve’s fault that he broke the commandment, to which Eve said, it was the serpent’s fault. (see Genesis 3)

Here we have 3 examples of distrust. I wonder what might have happened if Adam trusted in the goodness of God, and confessed his guilt from the beginning. Adam stopped trusting God the moment he sinned, causing fear to lead him into a state of distrust.

Trusting in people can be difficult, trusting in yourself is equally difficult, and trusting in God can be even more difficult for some. Pain is what we are afraid of. Pain can come in many shapes. It can be emotional, it can be physical, it can be spiritual – or it can be mental. Since we are naturally inclined to flee any type of hurt, it can be difficult putting our trust in people or ourselves. Simply put, we are afraid they will hurt us and let us down in some way. We also fear to fail and letting ourselves down.

Fear will usually try to lead us into a state of distrust. Of course, not all fear is bad. Often, fear can keep us safe and help us make logical conclusions to avoid hazardous situations and outcomes. In fact, the Bible says fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So, to clarify – no, not all fear is bad.

However, we must be cautious about letting fear in more frequently than we should. We know fear has kept us safe in the past, therefore, we can find ourselves clinging toward the safety-net fear provides us. Fear is a neutral emotion not good nor bad, but we must decide whether to use that fear in a Godly or worldly way.

In this post, I don’t want to go in-depth telling you how to react when fear rises in your heart. It’s certainly not my place. I simply want to remind you to have faith in the goodness of God and His word. If Adam had kept his faith in God; he would have never put the blame on someone else, he would have trusted in His goodness, and spoke the truth.  

If you have faith in God you will have trust in Him. But if you’re afraid of something (possibly a storm in your life) you will falter and fall victim to distrust. God is stronger than any storm you might be facing – have faith in His word which says you will overcome it, and you will find an unbreakable trust in Him growing inside you.

Have faith that God will put the right people in your life, and your trust in them will grow given time. Have faith that through God all things are possible, and you will begin to have more trust in yourself. Fear can be good in some situations, but do not let it strip you of your faith