Trust Fall
Read: Matthew 4:5-7
“Do you really trust me?” Maybe at some point in your life you have participated in a “trust fall” exercise, perhaps at a youth camp or retreat. One partner stands with their back turned toward the other partner, and they are supposed to blindly fall backward into the open and outstretched arms of their waiting partner, hoping and trusting that they will be safely caught. If you are a naturally distrustful person, you probably hate these activities.
The second temptation Jesus faced in the wilderness was essentially the devil challenging Jesus to a “trust fall,” to see if God would ultimately catch Him in the end: “Do you really trust God? Does God really love you?” Jesus responds by saying, “do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Matthew 5:7). In other words, we don’t need to play games with God. Of course God loves us! Of course God would catch us if we fall.
We are tempted to do this in our own lives. “God, do you really love me? I’m not sure if I can fully trust you. If you just do this one more thing for me, then I’ll know you’ve got my back and you are on my side!”
But God is already standing with outstretched arms, asking, “Do you really trust me?” We can set aside the games and the tests, subtracting them from our lives completely, knowing that God wants our trust in full, and is always ready to catch us safely.