It’s Not So Hard to Trust

Take hold of a tennis ball, or any small object. Hold it up and out, over the front of your body. Now ask yourself, when I release this object, which direction will it travel? Will it go up or down, left or right?

Silly, you say. Of course, it will drop straight down.

Really? How can you be so sure? Because of gravity, you say. Gravity will pull it down to the floor.

Gravity? What is gravity? Well, you say, it’s this force that pulls objects together. It’s what makes everything want to go down. It’s what keeps the Earth revolving around the sun.

Okay. That’s what gravity does. But what exactly is it? What does it look like? What color is it? Is it solid, liquid or gas? Animal, mineral or vegetable? Is it thick and pliable, or sheer and transparent? Can I smell it?

I don’t know, you reply. It’s just a……um…..it’s a force.

A force? What is a force?

Well…er…a force is…….Oh, just forget it! you respond in frustration. Why all these weird questions?

Just trying to make a point. If you have trouble trying to describe what gravity is, you’re not alone. Even the greatest scientific minds in the world have pondered that question for centuries. They can tell you what gravity does, but they can’t tell you exactly what it is.

Yet all of us have absolutely no difficulty accepting and believing implicitly that gravity is real, that it exists, and that it is always there. We have complete trust in this because we see numerous times each day what it does.

In fact, there are many things we accept and believe without being able to see, hear, feel or touch them. God is one of those. Or at least, He should be.

What is God? A spirit? A ghost? An alien? A cloud of light? A superhero in human form? Is He tall or short? What color are His eyes? His hair? The Bible tells us we are made in His image. But we can’t be sure if that means human form. We are told He is all powerful, all knowing and eternal. That He loves us and will never abandon us. How can this be? How can we trust that it’s true?

The same way we trust in gravity. Though we can’t accurately describe precisely what God is, we can trust He exists based on what He does. Look around you. The birth of an infant. The perfect order of the universe. The irrational concept of unconditional love. The beginning of all things. The beginning of life. Denying that these are functions of God is about as logical as denying the existence of gravity.

It’s not just the great mysteries of the cosmos. If you focus on it, and if you are honest with yourself, you can see Him all over the path of your own life. The experiences you’ve had, the adversity you’ve endured, the joys you have been granted, the incredible coincidences and serendipity of your journey that have led you to where you are today, even to reading this blog post.

He’s there. Always there. You may not be able to describe Him, but you don’t have to. He’s still there.

Now drop that tennis ball. See? Your instincts and trust were right all along.