Trust
Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
When troubles come, no one knows better than Job. 'In
Search of Perfection: Studies from Job,' by Michael E.
Brooks. Click here:
forthrightpress.com/#InSearchOfPerfection
COLUMN: FIELD NOTES
Trust
by Michael E. Brooks
"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a
just weight is His delight" (Proverbs 11:1 NKJV)
Buying meat, fish, seafood, or produce in South
America, Africa or Asia almost always involves a visit
to the markets and ultimately having one’s purchase
weighed on a balance. I have often wondered about the
accuracy of the weights used in this process.
Shaving a few grams here and there could increase a
merchant’s profit considerably over time. I imagine I
am not the first to be aware of this.
In some places there are standards and regulatory
structures in place to guard the interest of the buying
public. In many others, it is buyer beware.
How does commerce survive in such a climate? How can we
continue to visit the markets and risk being cheated?
Those are complex questions, with more than one answer.
But in most cases the bottom line is simply trust.
Those with whom I usually shop in the markets almost
always go back to the same merchants whom they have
used many times.
They have checked weights on their scales at home and
found them accurate. They have repeatedly made
purchases and found the food to be of good quality.
Eventually they no longer find it necessary to double
check, at least not every time. They have come to trust
the seller.
One of many characteristics of God that invites our
faith is his trustworthiness and dependability. He
cannot lie (Titus 1:2). "He is the Rock (i.e.,
dependable) … all his ways are justice, a God of truth
and without injustice" Deuteronomy 32:4).
We can believe him and rely upon him because he is
trustworthy.
Because he is true, he also demands that those who
follow him be true. They must be trustworthy. "Let your
yes be yes and your no be no" (Matthew 5:37). Ideally,
one's identity as a Christian should be a guarantee of
honesty and trustworthiness. Sadly too often such is
not the case.
In many churches, the old hymn is often used which
pleads, "Trust and obey." This is obviously and
properly an appeal to trust the one who is worthy of
our faith and to obey him who has all authority.
Would it not be wonderful, however, to be able to trust
all those who call upon his name, and obey all that
purports to come from Scripture? Unfortunately, we
cannot.
Rather we must follow the example of the Bereans who
"searched the Scriptures … to find out whether these
things were so" (Acts 17:11).
One thing we can do. We can strive to be trustworthy in
all things ourselves. Let it be said of us that in both
material and spiritual affairs, those who checked up on
us found us to be reliable and our products to be of
good quality and accurate measure.
A dishonest scale is an abomination to the Lord. What
of those who employ them knowingly? Let us always seek
truth, and seek to be true.
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