You listen to one person, and they’ll tell you not to trust the media. You talk to another, and they say not to trust the government.
The messages fly in from everywhere. Don’t trust the World Health Organization! Don’t trust the CDC! Don’t trust local health authorities.
Don’t trust the military. Don’t trust corporations. Don’t trust non-profits. Don’t trust foreigners. Don’t trust rich people. Don’t trust people who ask you for help.
Don’t trust Facebook! Don’t trust Google! Don’t trust Apple!
It’s really sad. And the worst of it is, they are all right. At least partially.
I was reminded of this when reading an article about Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram years ago. Here’s the quote that jolted my memory:
But in wartime, loyalty to the cause became a more valuable trait than the acquired founders’ iconoclasm. And the No. 1 cause at Facebook has forever been the continued existence of Facebook.
The easy thing to say is “Yeah, Facebook is evil. They’re only thinking about themselves.”
The truth: All human organizations have a tendency to focus on their own existence. Choices are made to further their own chances of survival. Compromises are made; corners are cut; good things are left undone. At some point, the organization becomes more important than the mission. This happens with governments. It happens with businesses. It even happens with churches.
My mind didn’t stop with that bit of pessimism. It went a bit further to remind me not to put my trust in anyone. Except God. Even good people, wonderful people are capable of sin. The best people out there still make mistakes.
I shouldn’t fully trust myself. Not as far as honesty, though I guess we’re all capable of some self-deception. I mean as far as resisting temptation, making wise choices, putting others’ interests ahead of my own… things like that.
I needed the reminder this morning that I need to trust in God. Wholly. I will seek the best in others, yet recognize that the worst is in there as well. I will try to spot what’s praiseworthy in society, yet keep in mind that there is much evil at work. I will resist conspiracy theories and generalized accusations, yet know that the thirst for power will lead people to do the unthinkable.
Forgive the rambling nature of this post. In the end, I hope you’ll take from it what I found again:
Trust in God.
Jeremiah 17:5 This is what the Lord says:
Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.
Psalm 146:1 Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
2 I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.