Trust is illusive. You can think you have it and then it’s gone. Once broken, it is impossible to fix and difficult to reestablish. Far too often one finds that they have “given” it up through a stupid decision, action, or choice. Yet “trust” is one something that we often take for granted.
Walking through the morning papers is an exercise in seeing how many different ways you can trash trust. Corporate executives get the big-type headlines when they toss trust away through fraud or sheer stupidity in doing their job. Politicians usually use the “personal acts” method; a few find themselves taking the path of deceiving others who trust that their words are true. Entertainers and those in relationships often find being unfaithful, for whatever reason, as the vehicle of choice. Then there is the person in positions of trust who “betray” that position. Children are the usual target of this link and the results often last beyond a lifetime.
Spiritually it is hard to separate the trust that we extend to God with the trust that we have with our “self” as well as the esteem that is usually linked. When “we” fail in our God relationships it is often difficult to accept the blame so the automatic target becomes God, Divinity’s word, and the Spirit that is here to guide us. If God is omnipotent why do we have suffering? If Divinity’s promises are true then how is it that I fail? If the Spirit guides and directs me, how can I stumble and fall so much?
The crux of the questions all center with the trust that we have in God’s word. Far too many promises seem beyond reach, dreams beyond reality, and gifts that cannot possibly be either true or free. The story must be a hoax. We must be idiots to believe in the details. Nothing could actually be true.
John records God’s words. “The Enthroned continued, ‘Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.’” (Revelation 21.5)
Who do I trust and why?
