Trustworthy?

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

Trust is big. It’s part of the scaffolding we build our lives around. Our relationships, choices, emotions: all impacted by trust. We even put it on our money.

In the hit show The X-Files, one catchphrase was “Trust No One.” The other was “I Want To Believe.” Each week, fictional FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully worked the space between those two ideas, tackling mysteries tied to UFO sightings, government conspiracies, and urban myths. Layered into it all 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. When I can actually see someone acting in a way that places me at greater risk than if they acted a different way, then their regard for my wellbeing must be suspect.  

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. 

Whom should I trust? When I need rescue, God is my deliverer. When I need a place to hide away, God is my refuge. But I won’t test God by ignoring obvious pitfalls in this life. What I‘m going to do is choose the Psalmist Option: Trust God to deal with my enemies and to pull me from any traps they set.

Jesus put it best in this week’s John passage: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in me.”

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Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We meet at 8:00 on Zoom* and in person at Our Breakfast Place. For a Bible study, there seems to be an unusual amount of laughter… 

Blessings,

Steve

*Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

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SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Find them here

Print them here

Acts 7:55-60

Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16

1 Peter 2:2-10

John 14:1-14

Fifth Sunday of Easter (May 3, 2026)