Beyond a shadow of doubt1/10/2024 Will you help me in my search? I well remember a man on our doorstep in London who had crossed the world for this very reason. There is hardly anyone left whom I can trust. How would you feel if someone flew more than halfway around the world to say to you, I am at a loss. I have met some people who are on the road to faith who doubt God because they want to believe but dare not. For when trust and dependence turn into doubt, it is as if the sun is eclipsed, the compass needle wavers without a north, and the very earth that was so solid moves as in an earthquake. It is also why trusting God in the dark is so hard, and doubting God is so devastating. That is why our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That is why to know him is to trust him, and to trust him is to begin to know ourselves. God is not only a person, he is the supreme person on whom all personhood depends, not to speak of life itself and our entire existence. And we can all know similar dependence and trust at the summit of our lives-in our free acknowledgment of God, when we receive his gift of faith as a trust that arises out of utter dependence on him.Īll of which is why when trust goes and doubt comes in such a shadow is cast, such a wound is opened, such a hole is left, such anxiety gnaws. But we have all once known the experience of complete dependence and complete trust-with our mothers at the beginning of life. We can summon up scores of reasons- such as suspicion-to protect us from vulnerability to trust. We can devise a thousand strategies-such as law-to help us flee from trust. Are there any questions more important to each of us than, Whom do I trust? How can I be sure? The highest reaches of love and life depend on trust. Crying for help is trust shaking hands is trust a kiss is trust. Trust is the shared silence, the exchanged look, the expressive touch. From a baby with its mother, to friendships of children, to neighbors in community, to agreements among nations, life depends on trust. From the moment we wake to the moment we fall aslee p, we think, we feel, we choose, we speak, we act, not as isolated individuals but as persons among people.Īnd underneath everything lie dependency and trust. Sometimes I feel on fire with the immensity of this: Each of us is a person-alive, growing, and relating. The simplest things in life are often the most profound.
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