The one thing that our Heavenly Father desires more than anything else is to have a growing relationship with us characterized by intimacy … a relationship like the one he enjoyed with Adam end Eve before sin entered the world. You know the story, God created mankind in his image and likeness. Then He blessed them and gave them safety and prosperity. They had absolutely no fears and they lacked absolutely nothing. God fully trusted them with all of creation, hiding nothing from them. But there was one specific tree that He instructed them not to eat from, telling them that eating the fruit of that tree would bring death. One day the serpent approached Eve to tell her that God cannot be trusted. To tell her that nothing bad will happen if she eats from the tree, that the only thing that will happen if she eats of that tree is that her eyes would be opened and the she would be just like God. Knowing both good and evil. You probably know how the story ends, both Adam and Eve decided that God could not be trusted and they ate. At that moment, sin and death entered the world and crushed the intimate relationship that existed between God and mankind.

The day that Adam and Eve chose to disobey God the relationship between them
was shattered. But God would not be dissuaded, He was going to find a way to reconnect with mankind. In order to do so He would have to overcome two seemingly impossible obstacles, distrust and sin. So God, with one act would do the impossible. By sending His Son to die in our place He would remove the obstacle of sin, and at the same time remove the obstacle of distrust by demonstrating to us that He is a God who can be trusted. But there is a small problem, God eliminated the obstacle of sin by allowing His son to take our place. The problem is that God can’t force us to trust him; we must deal with this obstacle ourselves.

We often think that our main problem in our relationship with God is sin when in fact our main problem is trust. Distrust is what leads to sin, and trusting God is what will lead us back into a growing relationship with Him. God has already done the hard part, He sent His son to pay for our sins and to demonstrate that He can be trusted. Our part is to learn to trust Him. In the same way that distrust leads us to sin and sin leads us to death, trusting God leads us into an intimate relationship with Him and the relationship with Him leads us to safety and prosperity.

Psalms 37:2 NLT

Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.

It’s simple, distrusting God leads to sin, trusting God leads to an intimate relationship with Him.

Heavenly Father you demonstrated to me through the great sacrifice of your Son on the cross that you are a reliable God, however there are some areas of my life where I’m still tempted to distrust. Help me to fully trust you in all areas, that I may live peacefully and enjoy the prosperity that comes from you.