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.

Trust (Part 1)

There's nothing like a good joke … and this is nothing like a good joke – but, a man goes for a hike in the woods and comes to a raging, roaring river. He sees the path continues on the other side but finds no way to get across. He hunts up and down his side of the river for a way to get across. Nothing. He comes across a fisherman who apparently has been in that location for quite some time as evidenced by his stringer of fish. The fisherman asks, “Where are you headed?” The hiker says, “Well, I’m following this path and it appears to deadend into the river and yet it shows up over on the other side. “Hmmm,” the fisherman says. “How about if I turn my flashlight on and you can walk across the river on the beam.” With that, the fisherman turns the flashlight on. It is quite bright and appears to be a good solid beam. “No way”, exclaims the hiker. “I know what you’ll do. I’ll get halfway across and you’ll turn the flashlight off.”

Trust.  What does it take to trust?  Do you trust people?  How about your spouse?  What about God?  Can you even believe that there is a God?  Do you have the distinct impression that if there was a God He wouldn't let bad things happen to you?  Do you feel like this hapless hiker - if there is a God, He's out to make your life miserable or to make you trip up so that your ability to do well is hampered?  Over the next few posts, I'm going to give you some thoughts about trust.  As humans, as individualistic as we may be, we can find solace in knowing we are not truly alone.  That there is a God who has proven Himself true to His Word and to His people.  Thank God for that.

The world revolves around him...

A few years ago, I was fighting a pretty heavy battle. At this point, you don't need to know what the battle was, just that there was a battle. In the middle of the battle, two thoughts occurred to me that made the fight tolerable. First, I realized that God does not necessarily bring bad things to us so that we might learn. However, in the bad times, there are lessons that we can learn. We can choose to ignore them or accept them as opportunities to learn. It's up to us.

The second lesson is actually quite simple. The world really doesn't revolve around me. Selfishness, rage, even every kind of sin is nothing more than living out this thought - that the world does revolve around me. See, when someone cuts us off in traffic, we get all riled up thinking they were trying to cause us trouble. That may be possible, but not always probable. As well, the slow poke who makes you drive slower than you really want is doing that on purpose because he knows you are late to your appointment and is intentionally impeding your progress. See what I'm talking about? Someone who is so self-centered (ego-centric) believes everyone is out to get them. They believe they are so important (again, the world revolves around them) that everyone else is out to make their lives miserable. As a friend of mine says, "Get over yourself." Contrary to popular opinion, the world really doesn't revolve around you. Learn this lesson and it will make life's troubles seem a little less daunting.