“Trust in divine providence fills the soul with spiritual joy (which is the antidote to sorrow and depression) and engenders hope, which is nourished by our faith, our trust in God: ‘for we were saved in hope’ (Rom. 8:24). Hope gives us the strength to face life’s difficulties; it represents the certainty that God will intervene immediately. Without this hope, our life would be full of disappointment and unhappiness.” (Archimandrite Theofilos Lemontzis)
“…mutual trust is the key to building and restoring relationships. When trust is broken, so is the relationship. But self-giving love, breaks through the breach of trust to invite the restoration of the relationship. This agape love is the kind that the Lord showed on the cross. He took on Himself the brokenness of our relationship with God. He showed His absolute faithfulness to those who had been unfaithful. And by that selfless act of divine love, He called us to love Him in return.” (Fr. Basil)
“Hereafter, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51). The Lord Jesus refers here to sight as pure revelation. When God discloses Himself to those who trust in Him and commit their lives to Him, they see. At one level the Lord’s statement alludes to our ability to discern that He is the Way – the ladder leading from this life to the heavenly realm. The Lord reveals this truth to the hearts of the faithful so that we will venture to follow Him without hesitation or restraint, turning to Him as God and King in our daily lives and in every decision we make. At another level He is alluding to the age to come, when the faithful shall see Him no longer “in a mirror, dimly” (1 Cor 13:12).” (Dynamis 3/8/2020)
“Through His resurrection, Christ has made even death itself a point of entry to the joy of the heavenly kingdom. Instead of being paralyzed by our pain, weakness, loss, and fear, we must make them points of contact with the Savior as we reach out and touch the hem of His garment and trust that His healing will extend to our open wounds, as well as to those of our loved ones and our world. That does not require perfect faith, but persistence in opening ourselves to receive His blessing with the humility of people who know that we cannot save ourselves or anyone else.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“Shortly before Christ ascended the cross, He took Peter and James and John up onto a high mountain and was transfigured before them. Two features are woven into the fabric of the event of the transfiguration: the cross and height. The cross of each of us, our trials and difficulties, is very small compared to the cross of the Lord, who takes away the sin of the world. In any case, our own cross acquires significance from that of Christ. With Him beside us, our cross becomes bearable and a means of spiritual growth. Meanwhile, height creates a sense of detachment: from the hustle and bustle, the trivialities and the superficialities. You can breathe, hope in change, and see for yourself the beauty of the heavens. If you welcome whatever cross you have with patience and trust in God; and if you decide to escape the suffocation of yourself and to follow Jesus, you can experience your own transfiguration.” (Fr. Andreas Agathokleous)
“Our society values self-reliance. We teach that maturity means that we no longer depend on others for direction or support. When we are fully grown, we should take our own path in life. However, our reading of Proverbs 3:1-18 teaches us the opposite. The wise teacher of Proverbs says, “Trust the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight” (OAB vs. 5)….Most English versions of Proverbs use the word “trust” to translate the idea of taking refuge in God…The Hebrew term suggests that we find our security in the Lord. The Septuagint (LXX) uses the Greek word meaning “to rely on”…Accordingly, “trusting” here means to depend on and put our confidence in the Lord. But Proverbs directs us to put our confidence in the Almighty “with all your heart” (OSB vs. 5). The “heart” is the seat of our thoughts, feelings, morality, and conscience. Thus, the writer of Proverbs advises that our dependence on God should be without reservation. We should devote our thoughts, feelings, and desires, as well as our will to trusting in God.” (Fr. Basil)
“To believe that God exists may be engaging, but to say “I believe in God” is quite another matter. To believe in means to “commit ourselves, each other, and all our life unto Christ our God.” We make this sort of statement in order to submit ourselves wholly to Him in whom we believe. If we are prudent, we submit only after careful consideration, having good cause – and above all out of trust. In committing we take the risk of being wrong, for when we say “I believe in,” we stake “our whole life…we go beyond believing that there is a God to believing in God who made heaven and earth, who became incarnate for our sake, and whose Spirit is active within men and women of the Church. The Church is not merely interesting; it is the life of worship from which we dare not withdraw.” (Dynamis 5/6/2022)
“To trust is to believe that another person is good and honest, will have your best interests in mind, will not deceive or harm you, and will keep their promises to you. For this reason there is a willingness to open yourself up, to entrust your hopes, dreams, secrets, even weaknesses and misdeeds to another. This trust is paired with an active conviction that Christ’s teachings are not just theoretical, but are intended to have an effect on every aspect of life. So, we place our trust in God (e.g. Ps 9:10), because we believe He is reliable, morally pure, because we know He wants and can accomplish what is best for us, that He will never abandon or forsake us, will never take advantage of us, and because we know He keeps His word. In response, we are willing to reciprocate with absolute honesty and put our lives in His hands and allow the at times radical consequences of that faith to shape our lives, often in opposition to the world around us.” (Fr. Edward Rommen)
“On the cross, Christ united us with both God and our neighbor, our every neighbor. He brought His own peace. He showed this way to all of us so that we could become the new person of love, humility, reconciliation and peace. A person who would trust Him with every detail of their life. Not a person afraid of effort or a defector from the struggle of life, but someone who remembers that love is all.” (Protopresbyter Themistoklis Mourtzanos)
“With all our strength let us hold fast to Christ, for there are always those who struggle to deprive our soul of His presence; and let us take care lest Jesus withdraws because of the evil thoughts that crowd our soul (cf. John 5:13)… Above all, let us unhesitatingly trust in Him and in what He says, and let us daily wait on His providence towards us… If we do all these things, we are not far from God; for godliness is ‘perfection that is never complete…’” (St. Philotheos of Sinai)
“…do we understand how God takes care of us? Many of us have great misconceptions about this. God has provided for us by being the “book-ends” to our lives. He is the alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. We know God as the creator of all, that we have been given life in this world, and we know that God has our departure from this world and what comes after covered. He does not provide for us by controlling everything that occurs in-between. Our lives that occur in between those “book-ends” are very influenced by the free-will of others and indeed our own. We need to accept responsibility for this and be confident that we have not been abandoned in this troubled world. Yes- there is pain in the days and time in between those “book-ends”. It is precisely in that time and space that many get tripped up so to speak and lose faith. However, in essence God is telling us, “I need you to trust me on this, in the end everything will be okay, there will be times of stress and uncertainty, but if you stay with Me, there will be something so joyful and full that it will wipe out the significance of any earthly suffering that you have experienced.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul)
“There are times in our life when we are asked to give to God, to give a portion of what we have. However we struggle as the widow did. We worry if I give of what I have, will there be enough for me and my family? We find ourselves confronted with a trust issue. If I do what is right, will God do what is right? If I obey, will God come through and provide for me? We often are afraid to help or to give for fear we won't have enough. We hoard our resources and treasure because we don't trust God will provide for us if we offer some back to God. We clearly see in the encounter between Elijah and the widow that God provides and responds when we give.” (Fr. Demetrios Makoul)
“We know that the answer for any Christian is not to abandon what God calls them to, however. We struggle to cease to be ‘functional atheists’: we struggle not only to believe in God with our minds, but also to accept in our daily lives that He is in control of everything, even our own sins and the hard times around us and in the Church. None of us in today’s world can see the future, but we can trust that whatever it holds is meant for our salvation.” (Mother Raphaela)
“Trust involves ceding a measure of self-determination to another person or object. It amounts to entrusting our fate into the hands of another. It also involves considerable risk, that is, the risk of having that trust violated. Ordinarily, we only offer that trust if non-betrayal is guaranteed in some way. So, we willingly trust God with our very (eternal) lives because non-betrayal is secured by the moral perfection of God’s character.” (Fr. Edward Romman)
“In good times we are apt to forget that we own neither the present nor the future. We begin to construct a life for ourselves without reference to our Creator and Redeemer. But in times of misfortune, when things do not go our way, we see the futility of our efforts to live for ourselves. At these times, it is a great comfort to believe that everything is in the hands of God…When we endure unforeseen difficulties, we can have peace in entrusting ourselves and our whole life to Christ. It is the only thing that we can do, and it is a great blessing to have faith in the God of providence to do so.” (Fr. Basil)
“Untended emotional wounds affect us spiritually in many ways. They affect how we behave in relationships—our ability to trust and give up control, to forgive ourselves and others, to love and be loved, to allow ourselves to be vulnerable—and our ability to be in the present moment, both with ourselves and with those around us.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul)
“Some people speak of faith as if entrusting our lives to God were as effortless and relaxing as soaking in a warm bath. If we have pursued prayer, fasting, and almsgiving with integrity…we will know better than to make such a silly assumption. The more we have struggled to take even small steps toward the healing of our souls, the more our disordered desires and spiritual maladies have reared their ugly heads…If we want to grow in…trust…we must open our souls to the healing mercy of Christ as we take our own small and faltering steps toward entrusting ourselves to Him more fully. That is never easy, as our distracted minds, growling stomachs, and self-centered desires remind us whenever we set out to pray, fast, and serve our neighbors. It would be easier to disregard these practices and assume that following Christ is simply a matter of having good feelings about Him, ourselves, and our world.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“When our faith is challenged, we are tempted to become unsure of the promises of God’s Word and doubtful of its preaching….Especially in times of trial, we might think that God’s Word is uncertain, and His good will for us is in doubt. But then we should realize that our uncertainty is not the fault of the Almighty. Instead, we have mixed thoughts and feelings. Along with the voice of Christ, we are listening to other influences. Their messages swirl around in our minds, and the siren songs of the world confuse the call of Christ. In these times of hesitation, we should return to the foundation of our faith in the promises of God. Moreover, we should consider who makes these promises. As Chrysostom says, “Fear not, therefore; for it is not man so that thou shouldest mistrust; but it is God Who both said and fulfilleth” (NfPf1:12, vs. 20), that is, it is who God both speaks and fulfills what He says. If God fulfilled His promise of sending us a Savior and who kept His Word to send us the Holy Spirit, how can we have misgivings about His Word and will?” (Fr. Basil)
“There is no spiritual improvement if we do not seek to please God with holiness of life…Holiness comes only to those who struggle. It is often difficult for us to put our total trust in God…When good things happen to us we are convinced God is looking kindly upon us, but when things happen that are disappointing or even bad we think God is absent. As God is everywhere present He is involved with everything that happens in our lives. Harmonious and good things are from God, but when disappointing things happen, God is still in charge, giving us what we need for our salvation.” (Abbot Tryphon)
“…trust in Divine providence is a form of self-emptying on the part of the believer. Such trust has a very traditional expression: the giving of thanks. To give thanks always, everywhere and for all things is the fullest form of self-emptying. The Elder Sophrony once said that if one were to practice thanksgiving always and everywhere, he would fulfill the saying to St. Silouan, “Keep your mind in hell and despair not.” Fr. Alexander Schmemann said, “Anyone capable of thanksgiving is capable of salvation.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“Trust in the LORD. The verb “trust” is complemented by the verb “lean.” Trusting in God is a conscious dependence on God, much like leaning on a tree for support…God never abandons a soul that puts its trust in Him, even though it is overpowered by temptations, for He is aware of all weaknesses.” (Foundation Study Bible, Proverbs 3:5-6, St. Nilus of Sora)
“…every serious Christian soon recognizes: our faith must be planted and then carefully nurtured, for our trust in God may be damaged if we succumb to the encroachments of the non-Christian world. To prevent spiritual death, there must always be forward movement in faith. We live in a world filled with hedonism, secularism, and humanism. These ideals dominate the media and flood us with enticing invitations to set aside our faith in God.” (Dynamis 11/6/2018)
“God leaves us to fall into arrogance and other passions so that we might acknowledge our infirmity and acknowledge where we are. In His goodness He leaves us, for our benefit, so that we might lay our trust and hope in Him, and not in ourselves. But beware of thinking that we fall into arrogance and other passions by God’s will (for God’s will is not in these); rather, God allows this to happen to us because of our negligence, and out of His love of mankind. He brings us from our evil deeds to humility, for our own salvation.” (Sts. Barsanuphius and John the Prophet)
“Acts of trust in God are valuable experiences for spiritual growth. He wants His children to be His co-workers and partners. He will not deprive them of opportunities for spiritual growth…This ascent to finding a Godly meaning in life begins with cultivating both trust in what God provides and trust in His enduring mercy.” (Father Eusebius Stephanou, Fr. George Morelli)
“If you’re anything like me, you worry, not only frequently but about as many and as varied things as the mind can possibly fret about. It seems placing my trust in God and keeping my trust in Him are not one and the same. Those few times when we fully see how much God takes care of us mean a great deal, not only because the constant worrying subsides, but because we are filled with enough courage to tell ourselves, “See, He really does care for you! You are just too blind to notice, so He has to show you in big ways to remind you He is always there caring for you.” (Constantina R. Palmer)
Our obedience to the Lord is twofold: first, we believe in Him and then, as a result of that commitment, we do whatever He commands. For the true disciple, obedience stems from genuine trust in the Lord. Our life in Christ will flower as long as we allow ourselves to rely on Him.” (OCPM 5/16/2017)
“...for an adult with some maturity, a tolerance for ambiguity is translated as (a) I know that I don’t know; (b) I know that Christ knows; (c) I trust Him. That’s the beginning of mental health, sanity, sanctity.” (Albert S. Rossi)
"Injustices will certainly be present in our life. God will speak the great language of silence to us often. However, if we can bow our heads, and persevere in the midst of humiliation, trusting in the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, there will always be hope for us…Jesus does not ask us to understand His ways and timing. He asks only for our trust." (Archimandrite Sergius, Greg Laurie)
“Trust is dangerous. Trust requires courage. If trust were easy, we’d never hear another peep from our enemy called Fear.” (Angela Thomas)
“If there is an area where you distrust God, underneath it is a place you’ve been wounded and we want Him to heal it.” (Beth Moore)
“Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit, and we also live in Christ. This means that we place our total trust in Him, rely on Him for guidance and strength, and live as He wants us to live. It implies a personal, life-giving relationship." (Life Application Study Bible, 1 John 2:27)
“When we first united ourselves to Christ, we placed our trust in Him. Every time we extend love to the undeserving, or speak out against fraud and injustice, or refuse to lie, cheat, and indulge our cravings, we are once again trusting in Christ.” (Dynamis 8/12/2015)
“As we struggle to love unlovable people, keep good order in our communities, and live in the world, many things will assault our faith and try to tear it down, wear it away, and inhibit our trust in God our Savior.” (OCPM 10/23/2015)
“Trusting can be hard. Yet Christ asks us to trust Him no matter what. He sent us the Holy Spirit to convict us of His truth and to aid us in trusting Him no matter what our circumstances. But we still have free will and it is still a battle. We often can’t do it alone. We need others around us who both have trust yet struggle with trust at the same time. It is comforting, convicting and validating all at once and helps us with our fear. After all, the depth of our trust in God is often in direct proportion to our fear.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
“My Lord God, … I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end… . But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” (Thomas Merton)
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