06-12-2022 Can We Trust God?

Thomas J Parlette
“Can We Trust God?”
Romans 5: 1-5, Trinity Sunday
06/12/22
 
       Does it seem to you that it’s getting more and more difficult to trust anybody? It seems to get more and more discouraging to simply answer the telephone, for fear of being bombarded with scam telephone calls. It’s just as discouraging to open emails or look at news stories online out of fear for falling for fake news. In fact, according to Worldstart Computer Tips and Techniques Newsletter, yet another email scam has been making the rounds on the Internet, and it’s kinda scary.
       This scam is going by the name of the “Hitman Scam.” What happens is you receive an email from an unknown scammer who claims that they’ve been hired to put a “hit” on you – either murdered or hack into your computer systems and steal your identity and ruin your life. Then they tell you that they can stop this from happening if you pay them a certain amount of money. They go into a long spiel about how they were hired and why you are being targeted, so it sounds legit. And then they ask for anything between $50,000 -$150,000, It all sounds legit and very scary. But don’t fall for it – it’s all a scam. There is no plot, there is no hitman.
       This scam might sound far-fetched, but according to the Worldstart newsletter, it has been verified by the highly credible fact-checking website Snopes – as well as other media sources. It seems to have originated back in 2006 and is now starting to re-surface.(1)
       Every year, agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau publish statistics on the number of people in the US who lose money to scams, and the costs are staggering. Sadly, according to a report by ADT Security Services, in 2018, US citizens lost 26 million dollars to a wide variety of scams.(2)
       The financial losses from all these scams are staggering. But the loss of trust is vastly more important. It is hard to recover from a violation of trust. Losing trust in someone may be the most difficult loss of all.
       It hurts when we put our trust and hope in the wrong people. Trust is a fragile thing. When we trust in something or someone and they deceive us, we are left angry, disappointed and perhaps ashamed. Violations of trust leave us cynical, disillusioned and less likely to trust anyone in the future.
       It can be especially painful when we question whether or not we can trust God. Many people, even regular church goers, believe in God, but they don’t really trust God. And because they do not trust God, they miss out on the peace, joy and hope that is their inheritance as Christians. Many people can’t exactly pinpoint why they are lacking the peace, hope and joy they crave – they only know that something is missing from their relationship with God.
       For instance, there is a city in Bolivia that has been known for centuries for its rich silver, tin and zinc mines. Mining is a dangerous, unpredictable trade, and many miners lose their lives every year in the mines of Potosi, Bolivia. The result of this danger is that a primitive superstition has taken hold among the miners of Potosi. Even though the people of Potosi are largely Catholic, when they descend into the mines, they offer sacrifices to an entity they call Uncle Tio. They believe that Uncle Tio holds the power of life and death underground, so they pray to him and offer rolled up coca leaves or alcohol to gain his favor.
       Saturnino Ortega, a mine boss in Potosi says, “Outside, we believe in God, who is our savior” But down in the mines, it’s a different story. He says, “We ask Uncle Tio for favors, sometimes on our knees. Our belief is split into two worlds.”(3)
       Many people live like that, with their belief split into two worlds. We trust God in certain areas of our lives, but in other areas, like business or work or investing – perhaps our trust lies elsewhere. So what causes us to lose trust in God?
       Whether we admit it or not, many of us have a faith that is largely conditional. As long as things are going well in our lives, trust is easy. But let life turn against us, and for many of us, our faith proves to be sadly fickle.
       Dr Ronald Brown, a former professor at the University of Minnesota, contends that we need to recognize two categories of trust, whether we are dealing with people or with God. He breaks these categories down into “Iffers” and “Untillers.”
       “Iffers” refers to the thought that “I will trust you IF you live up to my expectations.” For example – “I will trust you if you are consistent, if you are honest, if you can control your emotions, if you don’t exaggerate. I will trust you IF, you earn my trust.”
       “Untillers” refers to the idea that I will trust you UNTIL you violate some of my expectations. For example – “I will trust you until you lie to me, until you talk about ne behind my back, until you violate one of the criteria from my “ifs’ list Everybody has their own list of “ifs” or “untils” when it comes to establishing or breaking trust, but they may not be aware of their criteria until they see it in black and white.(4)
       So what are your “if” and “until” criteria for trusting God? Maybe it’s something like – “God, I’ll trust you if You speak to me in a clear, booming voice from heaven.” Or, “I’ll trust You until my bank account drops below a certain level.” Or, “I’ll trust you until something bad happens to a member of my family.”
       I suspect that the presence of suffering is the number one obstacle that hinders our trust in God. That’s only natural. No one really understands why good people suffer.
       A man named Rob Davies from Horsham, Australia, wrote in an article a few years ago about how an unexpected tragedy caused him to turn away from God. Rob said that before he became a Christian, his life revolved around accumulating things and abusing alcohol. He had spent a lot of time in and out of substance abuse rehab centers. But at a Salvation Army service one night, Rob and his wife made the decision to trust their lives to Jesus, and Rob’s lifestyle and attitude began to change. All was well and good.
       However, not long after, Rob’s wife died suddenly. He was left a single dad with two young daughters. He didn’t understand how a loving and powerful God could let this happen, and he struggled with his questions.
The years went by – Rob rarely went to church. He returned to drinking, got remarried, but eventually he got divorced because of his drinking. After that, Rob admits, “He gave up on life.” He blamed God for everything that had happened – how could God let this happen?
       Unfortunately, Rob’s story is all too common. Many people find themselves struggling with the same questions. In our verses from Romans today, Paul draws on his own life to offer his perspective on suffering.
       You will no doubt remember that Paul was no stranger to suffering. He was thrown into prison, ostracized and beaten on account of preaching about Jesus. But in this passage, Paul writes “… we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
       This is why Paul could trust the goodness and the power of God even in his suffering. God’s blessings aren’t just reserved for eternal life. By the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, Jesus walks with us through our every struggle, heartbreak and challenge. We are no longer alone. We have the strength and love of Jesus empowering us to persevere. And when we persevere, we grow in the likeness of Jesus. And as we grow more like Jesus, we grow in hope. And we can put our full trust in the hope of Jesus. Jesus will never scam us. Jesus will never deceive us. Jesus will never violate our trust.
       Let’s return to that story about Rob Davies. One morning, he hit rock bottom. And he started to pray. “Things were good when I was with you Jesus. Take me back. I give you my life, I choose you, Lord.” And Jesus answered his prayer and gave Rob the strength to stop drinking for good, and today he has healed from his hurt and anger and finally found some peace in his suffering.
       He writes, “Today my life is the opposite of what it used to be… God has given me peace, joy, happiness and an overwhelming desire to live, give and share how the love of Jesus changes lives – especially mine.”(5)
       Paul builds his argument in these verses to show us that it is through our suffering that we truly understand the love and hope of God. Suffering, if it doesn’t turn us away from God, leads to perseverance, then character and finally results in hope. And what is that hope? It is that a God who loves us so abundantly will, as Romans 8:28 reminds us, “work all things for the good of those who love God, who have been called according to God’s purposes.”
       Pastor David Platt tells about a woman who lost a child to a congenital heart defect. She described how painful it was to sit in the waiting room while her second child, who was born with the same defect, underwent heart surgery. And yet, during that experience, she discovered something. She came to recognize that even suffering can be a blessing for those who trust in Christ. She wrote that she wouldn’t trade the suffering her family has experienced for anything, because if what it has taught them about God.
       She writes, “This is the essence of eternal life, knowing God as God is. How often we are guilty of seeing God as we’d like God to be.” She says the only way she survived that painful time was because she wasn’t suffering alone. As she wrote, it was Christ living in her by the power of the Holy Spirit, making God’s power perfect in her weakness, that allowed her to persevere and find hope.(6)
       It is only in our suffering that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. We can never understand the nature of God, we can never understand the power of God, and we can never truly trust the promises of God until we have endured suffering and persevered. And according to the vision and promise found in these verses, one day the glory of God that we once hoped for will become the reality in which we live eternally.
       And for that - May God be Praised. Amen.

1.              Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, p 34.
2.              Ibid… p 35.
3.              Ibid… p 35.
4.              Ibid… p 35-36.
5.              Ibid… p 36.