In God We Trust

No. 14 - 13th November 2016

Our attention has been very much on America these last few days, and if you look at one of their Bank Notes, what you see is the motto, “In God We Trust”. The word “God” is on everyone’s lips. Well, I’m exaggerating when I say everyone, but you don’t have to wait long to hear people, not least their politicians, bringing God into the conversation. They’ve just had the results of a Presidential Election which has left half the country in despair, and fearful of what the future might bring. In one sense that’s hardly surprising. During his campaign, Donald Trump made a lot of threats and promises, and no one knows whether he means to keep them or not. Or whether it was all just campaigning rhetoric. As a political figure, he’s a complete unknown. But the fear and despair people are feeling tells me one thing. Their trust is not in God in spite of what the motto says. The person who really puts their trust in God, doesn’t fear the outcome of a Presidential election. Their peace is not shattered by the results of a Brexit referendum or anything else that’s going on in the world. The whole point of the promises that God makes, is that we can rely on them no matter what is happening around us. Everything else may be changing and uncertain, but God never changes.

As King David once wrote about him, “Your kingdom, will never end, and you will rule forever. The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

Notice, they still fall and still get bowed down, but inside, where most people feel the fear, they know that their life is in a safe pair of hands. The person whose trust is in God, lives in the same world as everyone else. They use the same money as everyone else, they have the same problems and the same difficulties. But the difference is that in all their troubles, they know they are not alone. They know there is someone far greater than the president of the United States, who can see what’s going on, and cares about it. There is someone they can really trust, whose Kingdom will never end.