Trust Part Three

 

So far this week we have talked about trust physically when we lean on someone and trust when we cling to that which nourishes and nurtures our lives.  When you pause and ponder, there are thousands of ways we trust every day.  I trust that the water will flow from my faucet, that the traffic lights are functioning properly, and that laws of gravity will keep me grounded.  I trust that if I ask Gina for help, she will come.  Church is built on trust that like a garden needs to be curated and cultivated.  Trust is active.  Another Hebrew word for trust is, aman, which is to stand firm.  The image here is that when you go to drive your tent peg into the ground, you select a section of “firm” soil.  The word can also be “sure”.

Ten bonus points if you thought to yourself, aman, looks like the English word, “Amen”, which means, “May it be so” or to point ourselves with trust in a direction we just prayed.  Prayers are deep desires, destinations, for ourselves, others, and this world God so love.  Praying is an act of trust. 

Where are you pitching your tent of trust in these days?  To be sure, there are so many winds that toss us to and fro, clamoring chaotically for our attention and allegiance (including the church), we can feel like we are building on the shifting sands of a beach! 

Micah 7:5 speaks of broken trust when he preaches and proclaims, “Put no trust in a friend; have no confidence in a loved one.”  You can hear in those words the heartbreak of a human who has been hurt by someone the person trusted.  When you read the prophets, it is not only God getting angry with us, it is often the prophet speaking truth to the ways humans have broken trust with God.  Our actions hurt each other and the Eternal who crafted and created this world for love and goodness, not bittering and backstabbing and brokenness.  God blessed the stars, soil, snails, sharks, sparrows, and all that lives to be fruitful.  The web of life our seamstress God is weaving and sewing is with threads of trust.  Yet, we keep pitching our tent on the shifting sand of human ways, our agendas, and meeting our own needs. 

Where are you pitching your tent of trust in these days?  What voices surround you on the news or the internet (realizing that when you click on a news story, you are setting in motion an algorithm designed to keep you clicking – the only way to stop the bad news cycle is to shut down your computer sometimes and step outside into the truth only creation and God’s still small voice can teach us). 

May we be awake and aware to the camps where we are circling the wagons of life and how this impacts/influences our own trust in these days.  Aman…and Amen.