Relational Faith: Building Trust With God
Faith, or belief, is a curious thing. We humans in the twenty-first century gravitate towards intellectual knowledge as the only true knowing of a concept. I suspect this may be why we so easily fall into depression and anxiety. We ignore the truths our bodies know and follow after cognitive beliefs, treating the other parts of ourselves as symptoms that need to be treated. Anxiety can be quelled after all with the right medication.
The question that goes unaddressed is what is my body so afraid of? Experiential knowledge requires mind and body working together to teach the self what is safe and what is unsafe, or perhaps more accurately, who is safe and who is unsafe? Once bitten, twice shy goes the saying. More to the point, if you get bitten badly enough by a dog, your body “knows” that dogs
are unsafe, no matter how many people assure you that theirs is friendly.
Experiential knowledge generally wrestles intellectual knowledge into a headlock when it comes to fear.
Faith works much better as experiential knowledge than an intellectual concept. The verse that says that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” is sometimes used as the anthem of those who navigate their faiths intellectually. I am certainly not going to take issue with memorizing Bible verses or reading the Bible aloud. However, faith is not merely intellectual consent, though it is that. If you want a faith that will move mountains, you and your body have to be on board.
One of my favorite people in the Bible is Gideon. “Putting out a fleece” is often times Christianspeak for lacking confidence in God. At least, I know I have used it that way. But Gideon represents something important; the building of trust with God. The word, faith, appears only two times in the Old Testament, King James Version. The word, trust, appears fifty times in Psalms alone.
Gideon puts out fleece after fleece and God patiently sends the dew from the grass to the fleece and back again. God is teaching Gideon how to trust Him because what God is going to ask him to do is frankly far more frightening than climbing a mountain instead of trying to get it to move out of the way. Gideon is going to fight the Midianites at severe disadvantage numbers wise with the added caveat of just candles and musical instruments as weapons. The whole thing is laughable. I really mean that. If I were Gideon, I would laugh hysterically just before I began to tremble uncontrollably. Talk about a full blown anxiety attack.
But Gideon knows God at this point. And real trust is an emotional and physical reality. Trust is earned gradually.
Truth by truth, moment by moment, trust starts as a pile of bricks and ends as a sturdy structure in which we can take shelter.
So how do we build that structure? I resist easy how to instructions, but on second thought, nothing is easy about these instructions.
- The whole truth, every time. Marriage counselors often find that couples who learn to speak even the ugliest of truths to each other reconcile more often. To lie is to turn your face away from someone
and show them only a mask. Before you confess what you want to believe, confess what your body is saying you believe. We skip confession and repentance so easily and move on to mouthing the correct verses. “God is good!” we say, but our souls hold fear and anger. So tell the truth to God. Ask Him to change what you know. Ask Him to change what your body knows. - Build memories with God. I used to get into arguments with the vicar at my small, ultra-conservative vicar at the small Lutheran school I attended in middle school. He would tell me that we cannot trust our experiences and that instead, we have to stand on God’s Word. I would point out to him that the whole Bible is nothing but a record of man’s experiences with God. Loving God with your heart, mind, and body means all three have to get on the same page.
Each person spends time with God differently, and just like any relationship, it takes time. If you spent only ten minutes a day with your husband, how would your marriage look? I read a lot of books about God, I listen to music about God, God helps me with my household responsibilities, and I tell Him everything. And then I listen to Him. I even tell Him jokes. He laughs.
- Build your testimony. In my family, we retell stories over and over. Those stories bear witness to our love for each other and we laugh, not because they are hilarious, but because we are remembering the joy. I cannot emphasize this enough. We conquer by two things alone: the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. The story of your experiences with God means far more than the most eloquent theological arguments. My old vicar missed this. Whether or not I understood how the Trinity works will not help me when the flood waters come. What matters is that when I reach my hand above the raging waters, I know that His hand is there to pull me up. It matters that when I cannot comprehend my circumstances, I can comprehend God’s presence in them.
No person in the Bible healed the sick, won impossible battles, slew giants, or raised the dead without first nurturing a deep and abiding trust with God.
They told Him the truth, and He showed them the Truth.
Even Jesus had to grow in wisdom and stature. Wisdom and stature. Mind and body.
I love watching dancers fling themselves up into the air, knowing they will be caught. Such a perfect illustration of trust, but before that happened, the dancers practiced, learned their steps, taught their bodies how to catch and 
be caught. By all means, employ your intellect, for that is a form of worship. But don’t neglect to bring your body along for the ride so you can fling yourself into the arms of the Lord of the dance.
As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him. 1 Samuel 22:31
O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee. Psalm 25:30
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4
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17 Comments
Vicki
This is so good! I love this quote, “Truth by truth, moment by moment, trust starts as a pile of bricks and ends as a sturdy structure in which we can take shelter.” What an excellent way to show that trust comes little by little, building upon itself. It also serves as a helpful reminder of what happens when trust is broken – an entire relationship structure comes tumbling down needing divine restoration.
Amy Christensen
What a wonderful post. I totally agree, that our walks cannot be done with only intellect. Our experiences, emotions and so on are such an important part of our faith. I only recently started experiencing anxiety attacks. God in His goodness has taught me how to let myself feel the fears, confess them to Him and then go to His word to apply truth. Embracing emotion is part of struggling out of the cocoon to become the butterfly He intends us to be. Thanks for sharing. – Amy
http://stylingrannymama.com/
Belema Ronabere
Whether or not I understood how the Trinity works will not help me when the flood waters come.
Truer words have not been spoken. My entire Christianity story is what keeps me going. You can take everything but my belief away from me. Faith and trust are two things I may lack a little but like you said, the more time spent, the better the relationship.
katiedeckert
My husband often says in his sermons that faith is like a tight rope walker walking across Niagra falls with a wheelbarrow. A crowd gathers and he asks them “Who believes I can put a person in this wheelbarrow and walk across?” Everyone raises their hand. Then the man asks “Who will get in the wheelbarrow?” Real Biblical faith or trust gets in the wheelbarrow. Confident in Who is caring for them. We MUST know the God of the Bible in our minds through His Word but it cannot stop there. Intellectual assent is not saving faith but you can’t lean on a God you don’t know. Good thoughts!
teawithcoconutcream
“Faith works much better as experiential knowledge than an intellectual concept.” Amen! I thoroughly enjoyed this post and your insight. The Bible is full of people growing in their trust of God, and we do the same! But yes, we have to give it all to Him, the good and the bad to build the trust.
Tania
I can’t say it enough Alice… you have such a beautiful gift of writing. You wrote, “Faith works much better as experiential knowledge than an intellectual concept”. This statement takes me back to an illiterate friend who moved heaven with his prayers and faith. Although he could not read, his “one on one” experiences with God saw him through. Thank you for these teaching moments. Tania from TheodoraLove
Alice
Thank you so much! I think God loves to confound the “wise” and answer the prayers of those who the world deems foolish.
Dani
I enjoy your writing so much! This has been so true in my life. Before our family took the leap of faith and moved to a different state as God had called us to, He took me through small steps of faith that built my trust in His goodness. By the time He called us to move, it was a no-brainer. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal because He had already shown me that He is faithful.
Vanessa
“If you want a faith that will move mountains, you and your body have to be on board….real trust is an emotional and physical reality. Trust is earned gradually. Truth by truth, moment by moment, trust starts as a pile of bricks and ends as a sturdy structure in which we can take shelter.” Thank you for this. I think sometimes we are so surrounded by information and knowledge that we forget to take the time to truly internalize any of it. Then we wonder why we are anxious and overwhelmed. We are placing our trust in our heads instead of our Lord. Thank you for such a great reminder.
tiffanynicolempls
I love you thoughtful and in-depth writing. This post was timely and echoes what God has been hammering into me in the last few days about a foundational trust that allows me to exercise faith in all aspects of my life. Thank you for your attentiveness to God’s spirit and your powerful and true insight.
Alice
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post. Trust takes time and sometimes we have cracks in our foundations that make it hard to deeply trust anyone. Ask Him to heal any betrayals and you may find it easier.
Leigh Powers
I like what you said about speaking truth to God. Dealing with the tough stuff with God helps us build the kind of history with God that grows our faith. Instead of running from our emotions, we need to move through them with God’s help.
Jennifer
I agree we need to build our testimonies. Just like the post about my miracle birth. I need to be reminded how God is faithful, how He has walked beside me. Those moments help us trust when the next challenge comes. Of course our experiences must line up with scripture. But you’re very right that we need to build and share our stories!
holdingontojesus
Thank you for this. What a wonderful way to explain trust. Loved this especially..
.”By all means, employ your intellect, for that is a form of worship. But don’t neglect to bring your body along for the ride so you can fling yourself into the arms of the Lord of the dance.”
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Moses Anemhen
This is like sermon on the mount. So encouraging and lifting spiritually. I am lifted indeed. WE must God for things to work properly in our live.
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