Everything is possible to a man who trusts

These are the words spoken by Christ to the father of the possessed boy in the miracle story that we proclaim for today’s Gospel reading. Trust is essential if we are to have a relationship with God. Why? Because we cannot see Him or hear Him.

Many persons have an issue with trust in God because of their experiences with other humans and disappointments they have experienced in life. I think that this is highlighted in today’s Gospel. The father had taken his son to one of the disciples and asked for a cure. The disciple was unable to cure the boy. So the father, even when he approached Jesus, doubted that Jesus could provide a cure. He is quoted as having said to Jesus: If out of the kindness of your heart you can do anything to help us, please do!  To this Jesus is quoted as having said: If you can? Everything is possible to a man who trusts.

It would seem, since trust in God is so greatly influenced by our ability to trust in others, that the first thing we must do is learn how to trust others. This requires being open to others and always presuming positive intentionality on the part of others. If, however, you find that their intentions are not positive, simply attribute it to their limited understanding of life and don’t allow the experience to destroy your ability to trust others. In order to trust God, we have to feel that we have the ability to trust.

Another important thing to do, in order to begin to truly trust God, is to be sure that, when we ask for something from God, we also add: O Lord, although I ask this of you, I know that you will provide me with whatever You know is best for me. This is another way to simply say, as Jesus did, Not my will but thy will be done.

What usually happens is that we want something from God and, when we don’t receive what we want, we feel we can’t trust Him. The reality is that He does know what is best for us and, frequently, that is why we are not rescued from the challenges of life. When He knows that we need to be rescued from the troubles of life in order to grow, He will rescue us.

As you might immediately guess, to learn how to trust God requires that we learn how to trust others and, usually, to change the way we think. Typically people find that the greatest challenges they have had to face in life have been the most rewarding experiences. Time allows us to see the benefits of life’s problems.

This is something to think about! When we feel we cannot trust others and that our ability to even trust God is limited, it is because we are possessed by a negative spirit that can be called disappointment. Disappointment results, typically, when we don’t get our way and things don’t turn out the way we want! Think about it.