February 2022
Not until recently have I realized how foundational trust is to a healthy Christian life. Wherever there is a lack of trust, trouble is brewing. Distrust is becoming a disease in our world today. If you distrust your commander going into battle, you will most likely be injured or die along with the rest of your company. If you distrust your teammates in athletics, your team will eventually self-destruct and certainly lose. If you distrust your parents or spouse, your family is headed for troubled waters if not demise. If we lose trust in our teachers, ministers, and government officials, chaos begins to creep into our souls. We will eventually want to lash out and maybe even hit someone. We will become angry more frequently with little reason. We feel that the world has let us down, but we are not sure where to turn. And, if we are not careful, distrust will become a way of life and then all hell will break loose.
Last week took an unexpected turn for me. I received a summons for jury duty. I didn’t think much of it since it was not the first time I had received one. The summons instructed me to call a certain number the day before to discover if I even needed to go to the courthouse, a part of COVID precautions. However, somewhat to my surprise, the recording instructed me to report to the Daley Center in downtown Chicago at 9 a.m. the next day. As I awoke and walked to the train station, it was a snowy cold morning with temperatures battling to be above zero degrees, a typical Chicago day in January. In one of the many rooms at the Daley Center, I was interviewed along with 20 other individuals by the attorneys and a judge. Before I knew it I was chosen to be a member of a jury in a civil case. Suddenly, I was on an adventure I had not anticipated or ever experienced.
Within minutes the trial began. I had barely sat down in my jury seat when my eyes became riveted to the wall in front of me behind the lawyers’ desks. In big, bold black letters it read, “In God We Trust.” I was somewhat shocked but at the same time delightfully surprised to have made this discovery. I had not seen such boldness in declaring the presence of God in a public sphere in a very long time. I had almost forgotten that every coin and dollar bill in my pocket had the exact same words written on them. Suddenly, my spirit was quickened and calmed. Here I was along with 11 other people I had never met, called to decide the resolution and fate of a legal and financial dispute that was over five years old. Looking into the eyes of the defendant and the plaintiff motivated me to find the right, just and fair outcome of their dispute.
We were assured by that statement on the wall and the rich history it represents that with God’s assistance we would be able to discover the truth and just resolution for the case. It suddenly made me realize how fragile and fallible we 12 people were to discover truth and justice on our own. For two straight days we listened to witnesses and testimonies that only made our search for who was telling the truth and who was stretching or hiding it more important. In God we were trusting for truth to be revealed and justice to be served. Our United States Constitution says that a government apart from God will be greatly impaired in its search for truth. After all, from the Christian viewpoint, God is truth.
We 12 jurors deliberated for only four hours. The discussion, back and forth amongst us, was both fascinating and amazing. Tremendous debate ensued with two people especially who were holding out for their views that differed from the rest of us. However, with civil discussion and respect we eventually and amazingly found solid and common ground. It was like emerging from dark clouds in an airplane into blue skies with sunshine greeting us. We smiled at each other and wondered how we had found this place of harmony. We believed we had found the truth, or as close to it as we could get. It was as calming as God’s presence itself. During the process, we listened carefully to each other with respect, never yelling at each other, and, as a result, we found ourselves at peace having arrived at a settlement we considered fair. It was validation that the jury system in America works; 12 strangers listened to the same evidence and wrestled with their arguments until they found justice.
These days, we need to remind ourselves that we now live in the “Information Age,” a brand-new chapter in world history. I believe historians and sociologists will be studying our era for years to come. A seismic shift happened in our world when suddenly nearly every home in our country had its own computer and most adults and many children carried their own smart phones. Citizens could suddenly be their own authorities, armed with a new confidence as their individual voices could be heard across the vast landscape of social media as never before. Why then should we trust anyone but ourselves when it comes to making up our minds about any subject? Why trust scientists, academic institutions, employers, government officials, or anyone else with authority if you can examine for yourself the information you need, whether it is double checked for truthfulness or accuracy or not? On top of all that, the internet is fun, cruising from one story or subject to another at our pleasure. It is especially fun for some when you consider that truth itself has become increasingly relative if not irrelevant for many people. In this vein, they argue, it becomes almost laughable to trust any authority, even in the case of God and his kingdom. An increasing number of people in our country are wondering why we should still want to trust God. Hasn’t he greatly messed up in history, too, they say, making numerous past mistakes that gravely hurt humanity? Following this path of reasoning, trusting in one’s self, becomes the only logical and safe path for life.
Because of my work, I recently learned that a very influential leader of the underground church in Iran was arrested along with some of his family members. The father, Arash, and his son, Robert, (not their real names) are still in prison. On Christmas eve, Arash, his family and a few close friends, were enjoying a quiet time of fellowship and prayer when suddenly police barged into their home and arrested them. Their supposed crime was promoting a subversive religion called Christianity. Yet, they had broken no law. The truth is that the Revolutionary Guard of the Ayatollah does not like the sudden growth of Christianity in Iran. The church in Iran has become the fastest growing church in the entire world – and it is all taking place underground. Please pray for Arash and Robert and other Iranian believers.
Sitting in prison, being harassed, and ridiculed daily, Arash and Robert are trusting in the Lord for their protection, peace, and opportunity to share their faith. Could you imagine being in an Iranian prison and having no one to trust but yourself? Let’s join Arash and Robert in prayer, trusting in God for truth and justice to prevail. This situation reminds me of when the Apostle Paul and Silas were arrested in the First Century and put in jail. The Book of Acts tells us the story, “A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison….Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!” (Acts 16:22-23, 25-26)
Paul and Silas not only escaped prison, but the prison guards themselves became followers of Jesus. The power and truth of God had overwhelmed them, their family members, and friends, too. Please pray for the members of the burgeoning underground church in Iran. The new Iranian believers are not only trusting in God, but they are trusting the Body of Christ worldwide to pray for them. The church in Iran has a vision that someday soon religious freedom will be possible in their land and that the Holy Spirit will wash over their people as God did in the First Century throughout the various countries of the Roman Empire.
Trust is at the heart of the Christian life. Without it, our faith falls apart, along with everything else. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God says trust me, and I will provide for you as a Good Shepherd provides for his sheep. God makes promises to us, and simply asks for our faith and trust in return so we can be in a covenant and loving relationship with Him.
Is your heart tired of not being able to trust others or even God? It is a drag trusting only in yourself, or never seeking healing from when trust was broken in your life. We have all been let down and hurt when someone we trusted disappointed us. However, we can never stop trusting, or else our souls will atrophy and eventually die. The road back to trusting again in our lives begins with God. He will never let us down; he is trustworthy, and he will always lead us to people we can trust, who will love and care for us in the same manner God does.
It is time we Americans stop thinking we are so smart that we can solve all our problems with our handheld devices supplying endless information to our life situations. We deceive ourselves and are deceived by many other people, too, when we place our trust in the wrong places. It is better to be humble and admit what we don’t know than be boastful about what we might know.
No one said it better than King Solomon when he wrote these now famous words, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 3:5, 6) I will always remember those words written on the courthouse wall when I was on jury duty, “In God We Trust.” And, In God we must always trust.
