In Him Was Yes

A defense attorney was cross-examining a police officer during a felony trial and it went like this: Q. Officer, did you see my client fleeing the scene? A. No sir, but someone matching his description was seen running. Q. Officer, who provided this description? A. The officer who responded to the scene. Q. Do you trust your fellow officers? A. Yes sir, I trust them with my life.

Q. Then let me ask you this, officer. Is there a locker room at the police station? A. Yes sir, there is. Q. And do you have a locker in that room? A. Yes sir, I do. Q. And do you have a lock on your locker? A. Why, yes sir. Q. Now why is it, officer – if you trust your fellow officers with your life – that you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room that you share with those same officers? A. Well, you see sir, we share the building with a court complex, and sometimes lawyers walk through that room.

We like to joke about lawyers being untrustworthy, but I’m going to show you in a moment that people don’t trust pastors either.

Trust. There seems to be a lack of it these days. We don’t trust those new to the community, those with a different skin color, those from another country, or even those from a neighboring town. I used to think it was a local problem, but it’s not. It seems to be nationwide! And it probably has something to do with the fact that we’re so interconnected by today’s technology and media. The marketing firm “Edelman” says that America is now home to the least-trusting informed public of 28 countries surveyed, right below South Africa.(1)

So, where did this lack of trust come from? Well, Facebook hasn’t helped much. In managing their online image, people intentionally create false personas. We all know this, and so we’re skeptical in trusting what people portray. And in the early days of Facebook, we freely posted our heartfelt opinions, only to have people criticize us; and so now, we can’t trust our “friends” enough to post anything. And to top it off, the Facebook company has been leaking people’s personal data.

And then there’s all the fake news. In a Simmons consumer survey the average percentage of Americans who rated news sources as trustworthy was just 40.1%.(2) A recent study about Twitter shows that a false story reaches people six times quicker, on average, than a true story does, and fake news about politics does best. This study reveals that “Twitter users seem almost to prefer sharing falsehoods,” and that “falsehoods were 70 percent more likely to get retweeted than accurate news.”(3)

A lack of trust is causing people to narrow down their circle of friends. For example, in her song “Party in the Hills,” the Christian artist Hollyn sings: “Every weekend we throw a party in the Hills for fun. It’s drama free yeah, only got room for my day ones.” And in case you didn’t know, a “day one” is someone who’s been there from the start. It’s a sad time when Christians are singing about socializing only with their long-time friends, when we should be making new friends in order to share the gospel. That’s where mistrust leads – to narrowing down our world and ultimately our reach.

The prophet Micah, during the invasion by Assyria; he describes a time that sounds much like today. In Micah chapter seven, he declared, “The faithful have been swept from the land; not one upright person remains . . . The ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire – they all conspire together . . . Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend . . . But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior” (7:2a, 3b, 5a, 7 NIV).

Micah’s closing statement is the only hope for overcoming mistrust. Micah said that he “hoped in,” or rather he “trusted in” the Lord. Our refusal to trust is nothing more than a defense mechanism that gives us a sense of security, but it’s not real security. True security is ours only when we when can learn to trust. So, where does trust begin? It begins in “God my Savior,” as Micah said. It begins in Jesus Christ.

People Might Let You Down (vv. 15-18)

15 And in this confidence I intended to come to you before, that you might have a second benefit – 16 to pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. 17 Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No? 18 But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No.