Trust in God--No Matter What
Rev. Dr. Michael Stotts
Gen. 22:1-14
Mt. 10:40-42
Can you imagine having as much trust in God as Abraham did? He trusted in God no matter what! Yes, even when God told him to sacrifice his own son! He trusted in God, in spite of how painful such a thought and action must've been, and God did not let him down. In the end God did not ask Abraham to slay Isaac. So Abraham's trust was indeed well placed. And if you think about it--if you can't trust in God-- in whom can you trust?
This week we will be celebrating, on the Fourth, our nation's birthday--and how appropriate then, for us to use this time to think about that slogan that our nation places even on its coins-- "In God We Trust." Not only are we as individ-uals to trust in God, but indeed, our nation is one built on the premise that above all it is in God that we trust. Our pledge of allegiance includes the words "Under God." So we admit--even our nation--in which we place so much trust to protect us and provide for us, even our nation is under God. Our nation itself is called on to trust God--no matter what. God is above nation. So if, instead, we trust in nation, before God, we are on the wrong path, just as we are if we trust in ourselves and our own needs, desires and instincts more than we trust in God. The message of our Old Testament reading today tells us that indeed if we trust in God--God will not let us down - yes, no matter what!
But then, I know--there's still that little voice of doubt inside each of us, is there not?--saying, "Isn't there a limit as to how far we can trust in God? Is the rule really, trust in God-- no matter what?" Well let's explore that question this morning--because it's crucial, I think, to our faith.
The first answer to how far we should trust in God, and to what limits--- is yes, we should trust the Lord no matter what--but in a way that makes sense. For example, I don't believe God wants us to trust God to do something we can and should do ourselves--that God has already given us the ability to do !
Take the case that is "said to have occurred in Italy in the mid-1990's. According to the author, "There," he said, "judges fined a 50-year-old . . driver for dangerous driving after he handed the controls of his car over to God. A judge heard how the man let go of his steering wheel and cried,'God, can you drive?' The man's car ended up in a ditch."
The story goes on to tell how the "motorist's lawyer mounted a rather ingenious defense. He maintained that the court had no jurisdiction, because this case constituted a 'religious dilemma.' The prosecuting attorney, however, was too sharp to let that slip by. He reminded the judge that 'God is not a legally insured driver and has never passed an official [driving] test,' so it was illegal for the man to turn over the steering wheel to the Almighty.
"The judge agreed, and the man was found guilty." [Homiletics. May-June, 2008, vol. 20, No. 3, p. 68]
It's clear, and should be obvious. God does want us to "trust God" - to even expect God to be there to help us, but a part of trusting God should very much be doing our part-- that which God has given you and me the ability to do. That case with the crazy driver is an obvious one: in that case, trusting God would entail the man taking control of the car, because God had already given him the ability to learn to drive and then do the driving himself. There was no need for God to intervene.
In a similar way, there are many times when we ask God for help, when we should also very much being doing our part, along with God. For example, it should be obvious that we shouldn't expect God to bring us peace and save our soldiers, when much of our economy is based on waging war, and we have clearly trusted our weapons of war more than we do God's way of sharing peace and love in the world.
Did you know that according to an article just a couple of years ago in the New York Times, the Pentagon has more than 70 major weapon systems at a cost of at least $1.3 trillion dollars? [nytimes.com, April 1, 1005] And then there was the study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute which found that, in the year 2005, the amount of money that was spent by governments around the world on weapons was $162 for every person alive on earth. [BBC News. bbc.co.uk; June 7, 2005.] And if that much was spent 3 years ago, we know the figure is most probably much higher, today. Indeed, now that the Supreme Court has decided that everyone should have the right to have a handgun, think how much more those figures will rise! We can pray for peace all we want, you see, but we're foolish if we expect God to provide it, when our actions say we don't want it. Yes, we can trust in God, no matter what, but when we're spending that much of the money on which we print the words "In God we Trust"--when we're spending that much on weapons of violence and war--are we really trusting in God, or in weapons and the power of violence. If that's what we want, we might as well have churches that worship violence, and armaments--for that's where our trust is.
Which then obviously tells us something else about trusting g in God, no matter what. That a part of trusting in God, very much involves trusting God enough to live according to the way God wants us to live, not according to the ways of our often materialistic, and militaristic world.
One of the great tragedies of the present war in Iraq, I believe is what it tells the rest of the world about you and me. It's saying that instead of a people of love, who trust in God and God's way of love and peace-making, that we are people who only trust in the ways of war to solve our disagree-ments with others. It tells the world that instead of a people who trust in God, we're a people who trust in weapons and the power of violence. Trusting in God instead, should involve acting as God taught us to act--through Jesus Christ--namely to love God, and loving our neighbor as ourselves, and even yes, loving our enemies, and beating our swords into plowshares.
So as we celebrate our nations birthday, we need to ask ourselves, have our actions as a nation truly told the world that we are a people Under God--who follows God's ways--or have we instead, often sent the wrong message to the world--that we are a people who don't trust in God, and instead place more trust in the power of weapons and might. In our gospel reading today Jesus made it clear that by the way we act toward others we can reveal him, and can reveal God to the world. By our actions, the world knows our God.
Speaking of how we tell the world who we are, by the way we act, Calvin Miller tells the story of a new first-grader in a rather "counter-culture" community, shall we say--a child who came a few days late for the beginning of school. His teacher was pleased that his parents had filled out all the appropriate forms, including putting his name on a name tag around his neck. However, though the teacher, because of the type of community it was, was used to names as unusual as "Sea Foam" , "Precious Promise" and "Peek-a-Boo" yet still she was startled by the name on this small boy's tag. "Fruitstand," it said. However, being a trooper, she went with the flow, and throughout the day, it was, 'Fruitstand,' would you like to color a picture? and Fruitstand, it's time for recess."
Well when finally it was time to put the children on the buses that afternoon, because it was the new child's first day she said, "Now don't you worry, Fruitstand, the bus driver will know where to drop you off because all of the parents write down, on the back of their name tag, where their child should get off ." It was only then that turning over Fruitstand's tag, she found the words "Anthony Wilson"
Yes, Anthony it seems was a shade mischievous, and had turned over his tag at the beginning of the day when no one was looking, and hadn't said a word all day as the teacher called him by such a strange name.
Well what about us--by our actions, especially relative to our actions on the international scene in recent years--with all of our warring--what name tags have we hung around our necks. Isn't it time we turned it over so that instead, by our actions, people could see--that above all we trust God--that we're children of God, who love God and love our neighbors as ourselves?
And that is so, then in one more way-- another glaring example of how we mistakenly sometimes give the wrong message about to the world about who we are and who we trust, and that's through the way in which we too often fail to trust in God to provide for us materially. Instead of saying to the world, we trust in God, no matter what, what we really say by the overly materialistic way in which most os us Americans live our lives today--let's face it, instead tells the world--in money we trust--in possessions we trust. It's as if we're telling the world we're not sure God will provide so we go about, far too often, trying to accumulate more and more--to secure our own material well-being.
What would happen if instead we trusted more in the importance sharing and giving, as Christ taught us--so that everyone in the world had enough. Then, if we truly trusted in God in that way, there would be no need to always try to provide more and more just for ourselves.
The self defeating nature of greed, instead of trusting in God to provide, was illustrated beautiful by a couple of articles I ran across recently--in one,
the words of a state senator from Pennsylvania were quoted, not long ago. The senator argued that his constituents were so nearly poor that they simply could not afford to pay another cent in taxes. He cited a letter from an irate voter as proof. This person had written him announcing that her family could not possi-bly pay any more taxes. Why, they already paid the government income taxes and sales taxes--and besides that they [had to buy] licenses for their two cars, their summer camper, their houseboat and motor boat!" This is nearly poor? See what our materialistic, and greed centered ways do to us? Instead of trusting in God to provide, we wind up just always wanting more--and never trusting, really in anything. So why should we trust in our possessions. We only hurt ourselves.
Sometimes I think We're a bit, well . .like the baboons described in a colleagues church newsletter recently. The newsletter story, was from a television documentary on animal life in Africa which was demonstrating how some Africans have learned to find water during the dry season: "A native would first locate a colony of baboons. Sure that the baboons were watching, the African would then dig a small hole in a dirt embankment. [AS the documentary depicted just such a scene, the person in the scene] then placed a handful of fruit inside the hole. Baboons, it seems, are incurably curious, so as soon as the native returned into the jungle, one baboon quickly approached the hole. Seeing the fruit inside, the baboon stuck his hand in the hole and grasped the fruit. Now the African had skillfully carved the hole just large enough to allow the animal's hand to enter but, when clasped around the fruit, the hand could not be withdrawn. The native then returned from the forest with a small rope in his hands. Amazingly, as the man approached, the baboon shrieked in terror, but refused to release the fruit and run for his life."
The person who wrote this account then says, "I found myself moving to the edge of my chair as this drama intensified. I wanted to shout to the baboon, 'let go and run for you life!' but alas, the native casually strolled up to the panic-stricken animal, laid the noose around the animal's neck and pulled him away. The animal was then tied to a tree, given salt, and held captive for an extended time without water. As soon as it was released, therefore, the baboon made a bee line for its secret watering hole. The native, simply followed the driven animal and found the water that he never would have discovered without the baboons willing assistance.
Finally, says the writer, "As I watched this drama unfold, I was impressed with the hunter's wisdom, humored by the comical simplicity of it, but mortified to see myself in the story. No, not in the hunter, but in the baboon. I thought," This is not a story about a baboon and water; this is a story about me and the foolishness of my own behavior!" The writer then asked, "How often have I, as the rational and intelligent being that God made me to be, performed precisely the same behavior as that baboon. What a price tag is attached to selfish attitudes and actions,. In the long run, a lifestyle of getting and grabbing is exceedingly more costly," he says, "than a life of giving."
So you see, if we live by the ways of God, and trust in those ways of loving God and our neighbor as ourselves, no matter what ---oh how much better off our world would be. Instead, far too often we just hurt ourselves when we trust in the ways of grabbing and getting, rather than giving as God would have us do and; and we only hurt ourselves, when we trust in the weapons and the ways of war, rather than peacemaking, as God would have us do . Yes how much better off we would be if only we would learn that in God, and in God's ways, we could and can trust . . . .no matter what! Amen.