In the hit TV show The X-Files, the catchphrase was “Trust no one.” Each week, fictional FBI agents Mulder and Scully tackled mysteries tied to UFO sightings, government conspiracies, and urban myths. Layered into this was the true central theme: Whom do we trust—and how?
Ernest Hemingway wrote, "The best way to make people trustworthy is to trust them." He penned those words after experiencing the 1918 Flu Pandemic. How could he feel comfortable taking that approach? Does it sound dangerous to you? At the very least, it sounds risky.
What level of risk can you live with? How much are you willing for your behaviors to put at risk the lives of family, loved ones, and strangers?
For many of us, when we weigh the possible costs of choosing the Hemingway Option, the risk of being hurt (or worse) just seems too high. We won't do it. But don't think Hemingway was naive. He, too, had weighed the potentials. He knew that, even though some could be trusted, not everyone could be. The difference? It was far more valuable to Hemingway to know who was trustworthy than to continue to wonder. To him, the risk was worth the risk.
There are, of course, situations where the risk is too great. When I can actually see someone acting in a way that places me at greater risk than if they acted a different way, then I must wonder just how high is their regard for my wellbeing.
In this week's scriptures, the Psalmist implores God to "Pull me from the trap my enemies set for me, for I find protection in you alone." Call it the Psalmist Option.
Most of us would rather not exercise the Hemingway Option to determine if a “trap” awaits us. In fact, most of us can see the obvious if we will only pay attention. Sure, someone could lay a trap for us in some clandestine way, but God has provided a response to that.
Whom should I trust? When I need rescue, God is my deliverer. When I need a place to hide away, God is my refuge. I won’t test God by going about in this life ignoring obvious pitfalls. What I‘m going to do is elect the Psalmist Option: Trust God to deal with my enemies and to pull me from any traps they set.
And if even that’s too much, we could do as Jesus said in this week’s scriptures: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in me.”
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PHOTO (an example of the Kintsugi artform): Adobe Express
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Join us at 8:00 for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast Friday morning. We meet on Zoom** or in person at Our Breakfast Place. For a Bible study, there seems to be an unusual amount of laughter…
Looking forward to being with you,
Steve
**Contact me for the Zoom link
NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.
SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK
Find them here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=43
Print them here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_FifthSundayofEaster.pdf
Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14
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