Are there people in your life in whom you’ve placed trust? Your answer is hopefully “Yes!” Do you hold the same level of trust for our elected leaders? Your answer is probably “No!” How about yourself? Do you trust yourself to be equal to any and all challenges coming your way? Do you trust yourself to “get it right” every time?
Trust means “a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something” (Merriam-Webster). When used as a verb, trust means “to have faith, confidence, or hope” in someone or something. Trust is both our response to the intentions and behavior of others, and our choice to place faith, confidence and hope in someone else. Trust, like love, means being vulnerable to others. That is why true love is costly. And trust, when it is broken, brings pain.
The prophet Jeremiah in Chapter 17 of his Book says, “Cursed are those who place their trust in mere humans…But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence” (Jer. 17:5ff NLT). He is speaking of in whom we choose to place our greatest and deepest trust of all.
When we place ultimate trust in anyone or anything less than God, then sooner or later that trust will become damaged, broken—or even betrayed. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,” says Jeremiah (Jer. 17:9). Even the best of the best will fall short of being able to carry the water of ultimate trust. That includes us as well.
Our God, however, is altogether worthy. “You trust in God,” said Jesus: “trust also in me” (Jn. 14:1). When we place our trust in Jesus and seek to live out that trust in obedience to Jesus’ commandment to “love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 15:12), then something amazingly gracious happens. We become like trees planted by streams of living water: our souls are rooted and grounded in a love that never ends. We become capable of loving and choosing to trust others in ways that become extraordinarily redemptive. And when trouble and trials come, we remain strong and grounded: our branches remain green, bearing fruit in all seasons.
Join us this Sunday and learn about the blessing that awaits those who put their trust in the Lord. For you also will become a blessing—to all and to any who respond to God’s steadfast love in you.
-Pastor Clint