Who can we trust?

"Trust no one" These words describe the counsel of James Buchanan Duke to his only child, Doris Duke. (Return to Paradise, Main Line Today, April 2004). Should we also heed this advice?

As I prepared to move from the United States to Hungary in 1996, a friend suggested that discovering who can be trusted and who can not is critical. Finding the balance between being overly naïve (trusting everyone) and being too wary (mistrusting everyone) is difficult at times. What and who can we trust?

We all know the sting of having trusted in the wrong person, institution, or philosophy. Most of us know the shame of having been untrustworthy at one time or another. It is an inherent part of being human. Trusted friends or family, with the best of intentions, can let us down.

Scripture, however, affirms the complete reliability of God, saying he does not change. We can depend upon His character, ability, strength and truth. His promises ring through the ages.

"Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth and it endures. Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you." (Psalm 119:89)

When others let us down, there remains one who is trustworthy. Let us be reassured by this reality and model it as best we can, even in the cloak of our humanness.

"God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" (Numbers 23:19)

Sharing the journey with you,