It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. Psalm 118:8 (NIV)
The other day at the gym, a woman beside me completed her cardio workout and stepped off the elliptical while I continued to sweat it out toward my 40 minute target. News of another university campus shooting flashed in front of flat screens bracketed across the mirrored wall.
This time? University of North Carolina-Charlotte…
Read about it here: UNC-Charlotte campus shooting.
This one had me particularly rattled since my older three are students at said university.
Praise God Almighty, they were not in harm’s way at the time, though one suffered non-violent, emotional injury that’ll subside in time.
The shooter, a disgruntled university drop-out, took aim inside a classroom, killed two students, and wounded four others before he was apprehended, cuffed and charged.
Sweet justice.
“You just never know,” my gym companion said, head shaking slowly.
Then she admitted, “I trust people too much.”
To which I nodded and all-too-readily acknowledged, “I have a trust problem.”
I don’t wake each day bearing the thought, “Today could be the day I get shot. Or raped. Or robbed.”
Several of my hyper-vigilant cop friends, on the other hand, are trained not to trust. Some admit to having a weapon within reach, even when in the shower or checking their mail.
They scan their surroundings looking to intercept crime. Their employment depends on it. The communities they serve expect no less.
But then there’s me.
Unarmed and all smiles, I don’t consider people I interact with would draw a weapon and fire away.
I’m a (generally) nice, non-violent person and am quick to assume you’re the same.
I’m kind. You’re kind.
Isn’t that how this relational game works?
But it’s not the optimistic, trusting disposition I have with people that’s the biggest problem.
It’s the other one.
The one where I don’t trust God in all things.
Why do I so easily assume others can be trusted while I can’t leave my concerns in the hands of Almighty God Who cares enough to count the very hairs of my head?
Even if God divinely granted hair-counting capability to His people, I’d wager none of us would give a rip.
Yet God does give a rip. And is wholly trustworthy.
Scripture is clear. To place trust in people above God is foolish. Worse, the Lord says:
‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord’. Jeremiah 17:5 (NIV)
Conversely,
‘Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him’. Jeremiah 17:7 (NIV)
God isn’t instructing me never to trust my husband or the bank teller or my neighbor or the lady handling my financial affairs without good reason, but blessings come when I maintain an unwavering trust in God above all else and at all times.
People, fallen and sinful, can’t make that claim. They will fail me — sometimes with intent — as I have done.
Trust Him absolutely, people; lay your lives on the line for Him. God is a safe place to be.
Psalm 62:8a (The Message)
Because you just never know.
✏️📚🖋✏️📚🖋✏️📚🖋✏️📚🖋✏️📚🖋
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What is saying ‘yes’ to love means trusting the kind of man you said you’d never marry?