As I was reading through the Scriptures this morning, I was struck by one reality…Trust is only as good as the person being trusted. This came about from reading the truths Jesus revealed in John 6. He was teaching a the crowd about bread, the Bread that came down from heaven. He spoke of manna and Moses. Then He spoke of how He is the actual Bread from Heaven, He is the True Bread of Life, listen:
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
The people were so confused, so bewildered by these statements. “How can this man give us His own flesh to eat?” I am sure thoughts of cannibalism went through their heads, and they were filled with horror at the thought of it all. Many fell away from following Jesus at this point, His disciples, His twelve disciples stayed. He turns to them and asks:
66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” 71 Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.
I was so struck by Peter’s confession of faith. We have believed AND have come to know that You are the Holy One of God. I see here that trust is two-fold, it involves belief and I involves knowing the person whom you have chosen to trust. I am sure the disciples were just as bewildered and confused as the rest of the crowd by what Jesus said about eating His Body and drinking His blood. But the staying point for these disciples was the One who made the Statement, not the statement itself. This kind of intimacy and trust takes time, lots of time and experience with the One being trusted. Do we spend lots of time with Jesus, not just crossing our devotional reading off our list for the day, but spending lots of time with Him; listening time, learning time, relationship time? If God has not already spoken words, or allowed things to happen in your life that have confused and bewildered you, it’s coming…believe me its coming. And our response will depend on just how intimately we have come to know this Beautiful Lord and Savior, this Sovereign One who speaks hard and confusing things to us at times.
I have been through many of these times myself, and my mind always brings me back to this passage and the Words that Peter Spoke: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
Sometimes that’s all we have to go on, our intimate knowledge of the Lord of our Lives. If that intimacy is not in place when the confusion and devastation hits us, we may respond as many of the others did. We may walk away from Jesus. But if we know Him, and know Him deeply, we will trust Him to work all things together for good, to those who love Him and know they are called according to His purpose…not their own. Truly, Trust is only as good as the Person being trusted. Have you spent enough time alone with Jesus, to have believed Him and to have come to know that He is the Holy One of God?
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