Trust (Part 2)

My parents raised us four boys on table games. One of those games was “You Cheated.” The whole premise of the game is to cheat your way to the win by either going further than you were allowed, by sneaking a move when you shouldn't, etc. I was a pretty gullible kid and not very good at the game. In fact, I won it several times by not cheating. Of course, that destroys the fun of the game, but who cares. I won. During the game, the other players can call you out. If they think you've cheated, they can say, “You cheated”, making an accusation. The consequences of the accusation are pretty tough. If you did cheat, you get moved back several spaces. If you didn't cheat, they get moved back several spaces. My dad was a pro at the game. Before making the accusation, you want to contemplate the possibilities and the move. With a big Cheshire Cat grin, he would say, “Trust me.” Of course, that was a threat, but you never knew which way to take it. Was he telling the truth or was he bluffing.

We hear this kind of bluff all the time. Politicians are great at it. “Trust me,” they say so that they can be elected for public office. Bankers tell you they are trustworthy because they know best how to handle your money. Lawyers call for your trust so that you can get all that’s coming to you. Even faculty call for trust that they are the experts in their field and that they won’t lead you astray. Doctors, advisors, sales people, advertisers, all proclaim their own trustworthiness. Some you just have to trust. I don’t know about you, but sometimes even the most trusted people seem to miss the mark. Whether intentionally or not, we have all been let down by people we had placed our trust in. That leads us to a posture of mistrust. We have a hard time trusting people. The older we get, the more times we get the bad end of the deal, the more our mistrust mounts.

I believe that mistrust gets put on God. That’s the best I can come up with for why we won’t trust God. Well, not entirely. I believe there’s more to it than that. I also believe we are born with that mistrust and we exemplify it by our constant attempts to “do it our way.” We demand our independence “knowing” we can do what’s best for ourselves. But, God calls us to trust Him. Not like my dad in the game, with the big Cheshire Cat grin, saying “Trust me” in the attempt to lead me astray. God calls us to trust Him because He does know what’s best for us.