Trust in God

 

 

If I were to ask people, “Do you trust in God?” I think most of them would say, “Yes, of course. I trust in God. I trust Him with everything!”

But if that's the case then why are you going around looking so miserable and so anxious all the time? Surely this doesn't go hand in hand with trusting God.

You see … the way I see it, you can't possibly believe in God and not trust Him. Not believing in God is one thing. A lot of people say “I don't believe in God”.

That's one thing.

But believing in God and doubting His ability to help you. Doubting His love for you and His willingness to help you, is another thing much, much worse.

Because you believe in God but … ummmm … I’m not so sure that He's listening to my prayers. I’m not so sure He wants to answer my prayers anyway.

It's as if it's a double sin in a way. You believe in God but you're not so sure that He cares and loves you.

Let me tell you about a priest I knew a long time ago. Let's call him Father A.

Father A was always calm serene peaceful and nothing used to stir him at all. He's been long dead now. May he rest in peace.

I always wondered how that priest was always so calm. Not only did he believe in God obviously, but he was certain that God looked after him, and he trusted God totally.

I remember a story where once we had to take a number of folk out on an outing for the weekend. We needed a van for this and someone had loaned us their van. It was a 12-seater; so it was just about right to take these old folk out for an outing.

The evening before, Father A and I went out to collect that van. When I saw it I must admit I had my doubts. The van looked old. A little bit tatty and rusty, and I doubted whether it could run at all. But the owner of the van said, “no, it's okay, it is roadworthy and it will work all right!”

We took the van and on our way that evening back to church the van broke down. It would not work at all. Father A, who was driving, tried the engine once or twice. Tried to turn it on … nothing … totally dead. The car would not start.

I left the priest there. I went to the nearest telephone kiosk and rang a mechanic I knew.

Half an hour later the mechanic turned up and he tried to get the engine to start … nothing at all. He looked under the bonnet … pressed this … and pressed that … and pulled this and pulled that … you know how mechanics are? And nothing happened. That car would not start.

So Father A got out of the driving seat and said, “hold on … let me try something else”.

He put his hand on the bonnet and closed his eyes and stood there silent for about a minute or so, and then he told the mechanic to start the engine and it started first time.

I was amazed. I just did not know what happened. My mind was just totally dumbfounded. We got in the car and Father A drove the van to the church followed by the mechanic in his car just in case the car … the van … broke down again.

It worked all right. The next day, being a Saturday, we took the old folk out on the outing. We enjoyed the day and we came back. The van worked perfectly.

Now I don't know about you but I’m still puzzled to this day as to what happened that evening to a van that was totally dead and the mechanic could not start it.

But a silent prayer from Father A, full of trust, got that van working and we had a good weekend out with the old people.

So I asked you again … Do you believe in God? More importantly … Do you trust Him totally?

Thank you for listening. God bless.