A real test of faith is to trust God with those you cherish most. Since trust is the hallmark of faith, the sentence could be stated, “A real test of trust is to commit to God those you cherish most. Faith and trust go hand-in-hand.
Grammatically speaking, trust is a noun and a verb whereas faith is always a noun. Trust as a noun is: assured reliance on the truth of someone. Trust as a verb is: to believe on the truthfulness of… to place confidence in… Faith is always a noun. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) True faith includes knowledge of someone and to trust in that person, to rely on him/her. To trust in God is at the core of Biblical faith.
Proverbs 3:5 instructs us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Verse 6 explains why. “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall make your paths straight.”
Psalm 62:8 puts it this way: “Trust in God at all times, you people, pour out your hearts before Him.” It is like a dad tossing his toddler high in the air, and the toddler squeals with delight without any fear. Why? Because the toddler trusts his daddy.
The famed story of a man walking a tightrope stretched across canyon walls makes the spiritual connection between faith and trust.
A tightrope stretches from one side of the gorge to the other side. The canyon floor lay 1,500 feet below. A crowd gathered on one side hears the announcer ask a spectator, “What brings you here?”
The spectator replied, “I heard the man is a pretty good tightrope walker.”
Do you believe this man standing next to me can walk across the tightrope and back again?”
The spectator looked dubious and with a slight shrug said, “Remains to be seen.”
To dispel the spectator’s doubts, the announcer outstretched his arm signaling the man to go ahead. The man approached the tightrope without hesitation and walked across the long span and back again with ease.
The announcer asked the spectator, “Do you believe this man can push a wheelbarrow across and back again?”
The spectator looked at the confident man and then at the wheelbarrow. “Not sure.”
A hush fell over the crowd as the man wheeled the wheelbarrow to the tightrope. The man pushed the wheelbarrow across the gorge and back. The crowd went wild with cheers.
The announcer asked the spectator, “Do you believe this man can push the wheelbarrow across and back with a person in the wheelbarrow?”
The spectator said, “I’ve seen him walk the tightrope, and then push a wheelbarrow across, so, yeah, I believe he can do it.”
The announcer gave a single up nod of his head and said, “Get in.”
The spectator gulped. “Ah, well, I didn’t sign up for that!”
“Then you didn’t sign up at all,” the announcer said.
One can believe about Jesus – which is what I did for the first thirty years of my life – but if there is no trust in Jesus, it resembles artificial intelligence. Hearing the gospel profits nothing if not mixed with faith, and faith without trust is not faith at all, and without faith, it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6) Belief without reliance is empty. Therefore, trust must be at the core of faith if our faith is to be genuine.
Hypothetically, would you get in the wheelbarrow if the one walking the tightrope was Jesus?