It’s no secret. There’s no denying it. Most of us have trust issues. Oh, we may call it skepticism or say that we have a healthy amount of doubt. We might blame it on the media or government. But I have a feeling those trust issues developed much earlier in our lives. Were you ever told these lies as a child?
- Swallowing watermelon seeds will grow a whole vine in your belly.
- If you cross your eyes, they’ll get stuck like that.
- You can’t swim after eating or you’ll drown.
- If you tell a lie, your nose will grow. (Pinocchio syndrome?)
- Don’t sit so close to the television. It will ruin your eyes.
- Reading in the dark will ruin your eyes.
- Santa is watching you all year.
- Touching a toad will give you warts.
- If you drive with your dome lights on, you’ll go to jail.
- We’re almost there.
- Crack your knuckles and you’ll get arthritis.
- Swallowed gum takes 7 years to digest.
- If you sneeze with your eyes open, they’ll fall out.
- Drinking coffee stunts your growth (or puts hair on your chest).
- Storks deliver babies (or babies are found under the cabbage patch).
How many of these were you told as a child? My wife’s favorite trust issue is finding out that those aren’t chocolate chips in the cookie. They are raisins! No wonder we have trust issues as adults!!!
Even when we aren’t trying to make up a story, young minds are impressionable and I think we forget that children do not process information like adults. For instance, when our oldest child was little, we went to the funeral home for a visitation of an older child who had passed away after years of living with physical and mental disabilities. We told our daughter that this little girl was now in Heaven. When we went to the casket, our daughter was instantly angry and accused us of lying, blurting out, “You told me she was in Heaven. No she’s not. She’s right there.”
The parents of the deceased were good, Christian parents and the mom busted out laughing. WE were not laughing. We were mortified and tried our best to explain. We
did not lie to our child but she definitely had trust issues any time we went to a funeral home – and that’s something pastors tend to do a lot! We thought we had done well preparing her for the funeral home experience and never considered that our explanation had been taken quite literally while necessary pieces of the understanding puzzle were missing.
Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs us to “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (6) In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
When we trust in the Lord, there is never cause for trust issue. The Lord is always open and honest with us, telling us blunt, uncensored, unvarnished truth.
The Psalms are loaded with verses that talk about trusting the Lord. Some form of the word trust is used over 70 times!
Regardless of the trust issues you might have, always trust the Lord. Trust His Word. Trust everything about Him. Finish out this devotional by looking at some of those trustworthy Psalms.
Psalms 4:5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
Psalms 5:11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
Psalms 13:5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
Psalms 25:2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Psalms 71:5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.
Psalms 115:9-11 O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. (10) O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. (11) Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
Psalms 141:8 But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.
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