Book Review: The God Who Trusts by Wm. Curtis Holtzen

Having chosen ‘TRUST’ as my word of the year 2022, one of the ways that I wanted to keep it front of mind was that I set a goal to read 6 books on the topic through the year. This one caught my attention early on because I must admit that I had never considered God’s faith or trust in me, but only our faith or trust in Him. How had my brain not transitioned from ‘Great is thy Faithfulness’ to he has faith in me?

Necessity of trust in loving relationships

The God Who Trusts: A Relational Theology of Divine Faith, Hope, and Love sets about to demonstrate the necessity of trust in God’s character by delving into the aspects of faith, hope, and love as well as the faith and trust between Jesus and God during his time here on earth. Curtis Holtzen presents the idea that trust is necessary for loving relationships between two beings.

I was delighted to see many of the recent articles here on the blog were affirmed by the author, including the idea that God partners with us, which I addressed as God co-labors with us. He takes it a step beyond that and calls us God’s co-creators and introduces the idea that He has shared power with us to do so. Additionally, he speaks of trust being action, another idea that we considered earlier this year. He even touches on restoration, as we did last week.

God believes in you

Holtzen also says, ‘I have heard so many times that God loves me that I am almost numb to the real meaning and depth of this statement. Maybe it is time to say that part of God’s love for us is God’s belief in us, God’s longing to have faith in and with us.’ This statement resonated with me perhaps also expanded those ideas of God laboring with me, that God trusts me to do what he calls me to do and does so with complete belief in me. Not that I will do it perfectly, but that I will do it as God does it with me, and even implying that the part that may be incomplete or imperfect in my work, God makes complete or right or perfect. I think we all need this encouragement: God believes in you.

I enjoyed looking at several Bible characters and how this divine trust is demonstrated, even if not overtly mentioned in the Bible. It really clarified that God does not set us in a rowboat with the oars and then push us off from the shore to fend for ourselves. Instead, the examples showed that God believes in us and gets in the boat with us, picks up the oar and labors with us.

Academic writing style

I have not read anything by a relational theist before and yet I found myself relating to many of those theories. Though at times the reading was heavy and the logic thick, it all upheld the premise and addressed some of the objections to the theory that God trusts. The book was labelled ‘academic’ by the press (IVP) but given my voracious reading (even if mainly fiction) I didn’t think that would sway me. However, I did indeed find the book took much longer than anticipated to complete. The notes and bibliography start at 50% through the e-edition, and I couldn’t have been more pleased. Given the note of lay people in the conclusion, the book isn’t as approachable as I would like, however it would seem the audience is not necessarily non-academic. I look forward to reading more on relational theology, so it didn’t turn me off the topic. In fact, it piqued my curiosity about relational and open theology as well as returning to look at the question of free will vs. determination.

The God Who Trusts puts forth ideas that God not only trusts but risks and hurts all for us humans. It has certainly stretched my thinking on God and who he is, what he has done and continues to do for me and all humanity. I am certain that my understanding of who God is and how he trusts us throughout the Bible will now change my reading of many stories from Moses and Job or Abraham all the way to Jesus. Worth the read, but only for those willing to read through the heavier ‘academic’ style of writing (little theological jargon, just dense text).

4.5 stars since it reads like a tome (perhaps because I am not the ideal reader).

I’m linking at Grace&Truth this week.