There was a royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum; hearing that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and cure his son, as he was at the point of death.  Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and portents you will not believe!”  “Sir,” answered the official, “come down before my child dies.”  “Go home,” said Jesus, “your son will live.”  The man believed what Jesus had said and went on his way home; and while he was still on the way his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive.  He asked them when the boy had begun to recover.  They replied, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”  The father realized that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, “Your son will live”; and he and all his household believed (John 4:46-53).  

Whenever I read this passage, I think about the royal official’s trip home, before he learned that his son was alive.  The official went to Jesus to ask for his son’s healing, and Jesus told him that his son would live.  “The man believed what Jesus had said and went on his way home” (John 4:50).  If my son was at the point of death, would I have been able to leave Jesus and travel home, trusting in his promise that my son would live?  Or would I have begged Jesus to come home with me, to be sure that my son would be healed?  

We are all on our way to our eternal home.  As we make this journey, there are times when we, too, must wait and trust in the Lord’s promises.  Romans 8:28 promises that for those who love God and have been called according to his purpose, the Lord will turn everything to their good.  And 1 Corinthians 10:13 promises that “none of the trials which have come upon you is more than a human being can stand.  You can trust that God will not let you be put to the test beyond your strength, but with any trial will also provide a way out by enabling you to put up with it.”

When we are in the midst of trials, though, it sometimes seems difficult to trust.  We may feel worried or afraid – will my son really live?  Can I bear this trial?  Will it be turned for my good?  But Jesus is always encouraging us, “do not let your hearts be troubled.  You trust in God, trust also in me . . . I am going now to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you to myself, so that you may be with me where I am” (John 14:1-3). 

The Bible identifies several ways that we can grow in trust.  First, we can pray and ask the Lord for this grace.  In Mark 9:24, Jesus tells a father seeking healing for his son that “everything is possible for one who has faith.  At once the father of the boy cried out, I have faith.  Help my lack of faith!”  Similarly, in Luke 17:5, the apostles asked the Lord to increase their faith.  

Faith is a gift and a grace from the Lord.  “God has given to each one his measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).  The grace of our Lord fills us with faith (1 Timothy 1:14), and Jesus is the one who “leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection” (Hebrews 12:2).  We can also pray especially for trustfulness, which is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

Second, others can encourage us in our faith and pray for us.  In 2 Maccabees 7:28-29, a mother encourages her son not to fear his human executioner, but to remember his Creator who made earth and sky and everything in them.  The son “met his end undefiled and with perfect trust in the Lord” (2 Maccabees 7:40).  In the New Testament, Jesus likewise encourages Simon Peter, “I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32).  We are called to strengthen each other through our mutual faith (Romans 1:12). 

Third, knowing the Lord, his Word, and his love more deeply is a source of trust.  With respect to knowing the Lord, St. Paul says, “I am not ashamed, because I know in whom I have put my trust, and I have no doubt at all that he is able to safeguard until that Day what I have entrusted to him” (2 Timothy 1:12).  “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

Faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).  The more we truly hear the Word, the more we will know the Lord and his love, which will alleviate our fears.  “Perfect love drives out fear,” and St. John calls us to put our faith in the love God has for us (1 John 4:16, 18).  

We have every reason to trust in God’s love.  Even if the mountains go away and the hills totter, “my faithful love will never leave you, my covenant of peace will never totter, says the Lord who takes pity on you” (Isaiah 54:10).  He has counted up all our sorrows and collected our tears in his wineskin (Psalm 56:8).  He is our help, our guardian, and our shade (Psalm 121), and he has already given himself completely for us.  “If, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more can we be sure that, being now reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  What is more, we are filled with exultant trust in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already gained our reconciliation” (Romans 5:10-11).

Fourth, remembering what the Lord has done in our lives and in the lives of others also is a source of trust.  In the Psalms, David recounts the deeds of the Lord and proclaims his trust in God.  “The Lord is my strength and my shield, in him my heart trusts.  I have been helped; my body has recovered its vigor” (Psalm 28:7).  Similarly, in Psalm 40:1-5, the Psalmist praises the Lord, “how much you have done, Lord, my God—your wonders, your plans for us—you have no equal,” explaining that he had waited for the Lord who stooped and heard his cry for help, pulled him from his troubles and put a fresh song in his mouth, and concluding that “many will be awestruck at the sight, and will put their trust in the Lord.”  Sirach 2:10 likewise instructs us to “look at the generations of old and see: whoever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame?”

In the New Testament, we also see many people come to Jesus for healing because they heard what he had done in the lives of others (Luke 5:15).  As St. Paul explains, “if mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to make me the leading example of his inexhaustible patience for all the other people who were later to trust in him for eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16).

The Word of God calls us to an active faith that perseveres in hope (1 Thessalonians 1:3) and to be vigilant, firm in the faith, brave and strong (1 Corinthians 16:13).  Prayer, knowing the Lord and his Word, and remembrance are some of the ways we can grow in trust.  

Finally, there is great blessing when we trust in the Lord’s promises (Psalm 84:12; Proverbs 16:20), as well as freedom from worry and fear.  “Blessed is anyone who trusts in the Lord, with the Lord to rely on.  Such a person is like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its roots to the stream: when the heat comes it has nothing to fear, its foliage stays green; untroubled in a year of drought, it never stops bearing fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).  In Matthew 14:28-31, Peter began to walk across the water to Jesus, but when he noticed the wind, “he took fright and began to sink.  ‘Lord,’ he cried, ‘save me!’  Jesus put out his hand at once and held him.  ‘You have so little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’”  When we lack faith, we also experience fear (Mark 4:40, Luke 8:50) and begin to sink.  In faith, though, we find peace (Luke 7:50), strength (Isaiah 30:15), and a shield to quench the burning arrows of the Evil One (Ephesians 6:16).  

Let us pray for the grace to believe that the promises the Lord has made us will be fulfilled (Luke 1:45)!