Thanks Peter. Helpful insights there.

…the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, “Do you trust that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” (Matthew 9:28)

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God. Trust also in me.” (John 14:1)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who trusts in him will not perish but will have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

One important reason for using “trust” rather than “believe” is that “trust” shows that we humans are never the means by which something good happens. God, and only God, is the means by which good things happen. We trust. God does the work. Also, using “trust” rather than “belief” or “faith” takes the action out of the head and puts it into the heart, which is where God loves to interact with his children.

Thanks Ruth. I greatly appreciate your insight and the reflection that quest seeking includes both joy and weight. Sobering that it’s the community that is often the most difficult part.

“Why does belief come easily to some, while for others it is a tortured, perhaps near impossible, journey.”
I wonder if, for the ones who’s faith is a quest what makes it a near impossible journey is not the pursuit of God rooted in deep and endless questions but doing so in an environment that rejects the quest as valid or necessary and therefore, in not so many words, undermines the God given worth of the individual themselves. It seems that a life of quest seeking faith is a deep joy, a great privilege, a heavy responsibility and, in this time and place of the modern western era, perhaps an almost overbearing curse. Maybe faith is not the impossible journey, but sometimes doing faith in community whilst sustaining one’s life is.

If indeed the church needs the quest seeker, love, kindness and encouragement may need to be paired with a willingness to be humbled to a place of deep listening, not agreement, but willingness to listen beyond what immediately irritates and offends …lest it simply be an act of righteous pity where a spiritual power imbalance is upheld bringing all exploration to an end (and perhaps ones humanity to an end with it).