Reason # 5 A Cure for Distrust

"Distrust" has a very long history in the human race. It's beginning was a seed of distrust planted by satan in the garden of Eden. "And he said to the woman, '...Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” .... The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!  “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1,4,5). Satan was in essence saying "Can you really trust what God has commanded of you?" The seed would sprout into a distrust in the command God made to not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, and that distrust led directly to disobedience.

"Every time I deliberately disobey a command of God, it is because I am in that moment doubtful as to God's true intentions in giving me that command.  Does He really have my best interest at heart? Or is He withholding something from me that I would be better off having? Such questions, whether consciously asked or not, lie underneath every act of disobedience.


However, the gospel changes my view of God's commandments, in that it helps me to see the heart of the Person from whom those commandments come. When I begin my train of thought with the gospel, I realize that if God loved me enough to sacrifice His own Son's life for me, then He must be guided b that same love when He speaks his commandments to me. Viewing God's commands and prohibitions in this light, I can see them for what they really are: friendly  signposts from a heavenly father who is seeking to love me through each directive, so that I might experience His very fullness forever. -Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians, p.17

Oh, if Adam and Eve would have trusted that God's command was the very best for them! What is amazing is that God did not abandon mankind in our state of distrust, but immediately set into action His plan to show the world that He does desire what is best for us, as quickly demonstrated when God kept Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of life which would have condemned the human race to an eternal life in their fallen sinful state, separated from their maker. But nowhere do we see a greater demonstration and proof that trusting in God and His commands is the very best for us, than in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  When I know and believe the gospel, and it is in my thoughts often, I find great confidence in God's commands, and a growing desire to live obediently to them. Why should I preach the daily to myself? The seeds of distrust that satan is still sowing today, will find no fertile soil in the life of one who's heart and mind are saturated with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.