“Can You Take Pictures?”

I could feel the weight – and the quality – as he handed me the camera. It was a top-of-the-range digital SLR with a motorised zoom lens bristling with complex controls. It must have cost more than I paid for my last computer.

For a fleeting moment I thought he was actually giving me the thing as he indicated that I should put the padded strap round my neck. But then he pointed out the focus and shutter and I realised he wanted me to take a picture of him and his family. Posing with a huge statue across the town square.

He walked off across the square to where his family was standing by the statue; so far that I could hardly make out the expectant smile on his face. Here I was in the middle of a public place, holding an expensive camera owned by someone I had never met. Someone who had given me the responsibility to record this moment so they could share it with those they loved. Exactly why did this feel so good?

Trust.

Trust changes us

The guy’s trust in me made a difference.

Sure, it is good to be able to help someone out – how else would he be able to capture this moment except by asking some passer-by to take a photo. Tourists do this all the time, and I reckon only a few cameras are never seen again. Maybe part of the answer is our desire to welcome visitors to our towns and cities and make them feel at home. Or we think about when we were on vacation and some stranger did the same for us.

But the warm feeling of trust isn’t explained away so easily.

If I give you something of mine to take care of, to look after for me, I have to value you. I must think highly enough of you to know that you are up to the job. That you will fulfil my expectations.

Being affirmed and valued as someone who can be trusted makes us more trustworthy. It brings out that integrity that we might have been unaware of, and we go out of our way to live up to the expectations of who we really are.

A Trustworthy Father

When each of our three children was born we thanked God for giving them to our care, acknowledging the awesome responsibility to Him. The powerful realisation that God had entrusted three of His children into our care is an experience I will never forget.

How does God respond to OUR trust? What is His reaction when we value Him enough to commit to Him our lives, our dreams, our futures, our plans?

“O my God, save Your servant, for I trust in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, without fear or doubt].”

Psalm 86:2 (Amplified)

How often we continue to worry about the things we have entrusted to God. We commit our very lives to Him, and offer Him our plans, our dreams and our problems – and continue in our anxiety. Perhaps the better we get to know Father, the more we can be convinced that He is trustworthy, and able to bear the responsibility of taking care of all we give Him.

“…for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

2 Timothy 1:12 (NASB)

We feel good when someone trusts us. You could bless Jesus today by trusting Him.

Worship

Write a list of all the reasons you can think of why God can be trusted. You could list them under headings of His: character, power, motivation, track record, promises, etc.

Why not bless future readers and list some of them in the comments below?

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
“Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified^® Bible,Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.” (www.Lockman.org)