I have enjoyed this sweet little cactus, a gift from My Man, for many weeks. Seeming a little strange that the cactus was growing without the red flower changing...
My Man examined it carefully, only to discover that... he had been duped! The flower was made of straw... and was applied with a glob of glue. Naively, he trusted that his purchase was a genuine, flowering cactus.
So many things in life turn out being a fake. They look lovely... we are drawn toward them... only to be disappointed or disillusioned... afraid to trust again.
Sometimes we perceive God that way. He let us down... He cannot be trusted. Because of presuppositions concerning Him from our childhood years, and perceptions from negative things that happen in life... we may turn our hearts away from Him.
The reality is... when we do not trust God... we are the ones who have been duped... as we do not really know Him. We assume we do... but it is not the genuine God of Scripture... it has become a fake god of our own making.
The God of Scripture is the real thing. And when we know Him... we can trust Him! How do we accurately know Him? By consistently spending time reading and studying His Word... His entire Word... and then choosing to obediently breathe close to His heart.
That little cactus with the fake flower... reminding me of a real thing... a genuine God of love.
***** One of the best Bible Studies, taking you through Scripture, where you learn to know and trust the real God, is - Lord, I Want to Know You: A Devotional Study on the Names of God.