We also struggle to entrust ourselves to others because we worry about their ugliness. "If I give my life over to him, will he abuse my love and trust?" "If I become totally vulnerable to her, will she take advantage of me and hurt me?" Many of us, perhaps most, overcome such trust issues; not entirely, but enough that we can participate in loving, intimate relationships.
Such trust issues carry over into relationship with God, with Jesus. No matter how much the Scriptures reassure us that God is our surest hope, a God who loves and protects us; no matter how much we read that Jesus is the one who can guide us to true life and love, we aren't quite sure. And so we need to protect ourselves. We dare not give ourselves entirely over to God.
For some reason, this trust issue, which causes enough trouble for our human relationships, is even more problematic in the human/divine relationship. God is unknown enough, distant enough, that we hesitate to go "all in." We keep guarding and protecting ourselves.
Insomuch as this is true, the fundamental faith problem is not about getting one's theology correct or about trying hard enough to believe in Jesus. The fundamental problem is not having experienced God's love sufficiently to trust it. "If I give my life over to God, will God abuse my love and trust?"
Religion often tries to turn faith into morality, keeping rules, and believing the right things. Nothing wrong with morality or getting our theology straight, but those are all best understood as attempts to love God back. They are responses to having been loved by God.
All this means that for many of us, our greatest need is not trying harder at faith. Rather it is becoming vulnerable and letting go. It is allowing ourselves to fall into God's love. I suppose this is that classic, leap of faith, something not unlike the letting go that must happen in order to fall in love with another person.
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