In God We Trust?

4 March 2021

Psalm 19; Exodus 19:1–9a; 1 Peter 2:4–10

Trust is a scarce commodity. True trust. You and I trust that the person approaching the intersection will stop, but we’ve all had enough experience to undermine that trust (we even might be the reason we are this way at intersections).

All our actions operate on trust. In general, we “trust” for two reasons, (1) cultural training, (2) “enlightened” self-interest. We are culturally trained to trust people during transactions, though when lawyers are involved, maybe we don’t (no offense intended if you’re a lawyer). “Enlightened” self-interest really means that most people won’t do majorly wrong things out of of getting caught with the consequences.

The sad is that often our trust in and of God is the same. We trust God insofar as we think of God’s “enlightened” self-interest. If you read that aloud, you might have detected a note of scorn or sarcasm. It certainly is there, but it is self-aimed rather than God-aimed.

As we are and much of our interaction, trust, and of the world is based upon our experience, how could we not dangerously put God in the same spot as our fellow humans? Immediately, you might be saying, “not me!” Most of the time indeed it probably isn’t you.

It is the times that it is you (or me or anyone) that we need to examine openly with . As much as we often want to overlook our weaknesses, it is those weaknesses that make Christ a stumbling block even for his followers.

“…they refuse to believe in the .” The Word is . Jesus is God. Perhaps the harsher truth is that we trust the Word as much as we trust the world.

※Reflection※

  • Whom do you trust? Why? When have they betrayed the trust? How did you (and your with them) beyond the ?
  • Do you trust God more than you trust the world?

※Prayer※

Lord, trust is endangered in and by the world. Help our trust in you to be strengthened beyond all measure and exceed our distrust so that it is no more. Amen.

Image courtesy of MICHAKLOOTWIJK