Hi Friend,

Have you known a time in your life that there was so much distrust?  It is no wonder people don’t trust the leaders—they are so corrupt that the absence of trust is so pervasive.

Trust is an essential characteristic of a healthy community.  It is the “glue” that bonds us together in harmony whether we are members of a family or citizens of a nation.

When two people decide to get married we counsel them to discuss issues they will encounter as married partners.  One of the questions I ask each individual is, “Is there anything that would cause you to divorce this person?”  There are two answers that are universal to every couple—infidelity and child abuse.  Trust is not arbitrary—it is intrinsic to every successful relationship.  Two people preparing for marriage are making a covenant of trust—that this person will be faithful to me and that my children, the people I love most, will always be safe with him or her.

The same factor exists within a community.  We expect national leaders to uphold the constitution, yet some members of the Supreme Court don’t believe in the validity of the constitution.  There are judges that blame the victim and defend the criminal.  We are fearful of putting our lives in the hands of medical people because too many people go to the hospital to die.

The mainstream media is simply not believable.  Parents cringe to send their children to school for fear they may emerge with perverted views of normal family values.  Students leave college with a mountain of debt, minimal training for meaningful employment and disdain for the values of our Founding Fathers that bequeathed to us the framework for national liberty and individual rights.

This week there is a report of a split in a major Christian denomination.  The Annual Conference of most churches occurs in May and this year the United Methodist Church is expected to split over marriage.  It appears that a majority of the leaders believe that the Bible should not define marriage while a significant minority claim the biblical description of marriage should be upheld.  Even worse, if there is such, influential ministers are teaching that one need not believe that Jesus is the Son of God to be a Christian.  We are left to question how a person can believe anything in the Bible if he doesn’t believe Jesus is a divine being.  Theologians and ministers have betrayed the trust placed in them by the God who gave them life and the lay members who provide their salaries.

What can a sincere person do when the world turns upside down?  Who can you trust?

King David encountered circumstances during his life that were more frightening than those faced by most people.  I’ve never been a shepherd protecting sheep from a hungry lion or bear where I was the only force that stood between the vulnerable lambs and a ferocious predator.  But that’s where David stood.  I might be inclined to offer a lamb to the lion to appease his appetite.  Most of us have faced adversaries, at work or in politics who were giants to us.  But Goliath was a literal twelve-foot-tall giant with real weapons and David had nothing but a slingshot and no armor.  It may have taken those situations for David to learn a profound truth that he passed on to us.  He put his words to music and they are preserved for us today.

Psalm 3:5-6

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

Ah, that is the answer!  When the world is coming apart at the seams and it seems like I can’t trust anyone—when I am suspect even of my own understanding—there is One who is absolutely trustworthy.

From time to time, it is good for man to go through trials to learn the most basic lesson of life.

Trust God.

When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they had to demonstrate their trust in God.  It was God who performed the miracles.  It was God who brought ten incredible plagues on their captors.  It was God who protected the firstborn of Israel from death when the angel saw the blood on the doorpost.

For the first time in their lives these former slaves stood on free ground.  As they stood between an angry army of Egyptian soldiers with “choice” chariots on one side and the Red Sea on the other they discovered the most valuable lesson of life.  Now it is time to trust God to part the sea.

Until next time,

Jim O’Brien