“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways
acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes”
(Proverbs 3:5).
It sounds so obvious that you may wonder why the Bible would present such a platitude. It’s not a simple thing, however, to trust in the Lord with all your heart. We don’t always realize how often we trust others instead. For example, take the case of chain letters.
What do you do when you are sent a chain letter? Now that people utilize the expediency and low-cost of e-mail, chain letters are in fashion. Not only do they come in your mailbox, they now appear on the computer screen. And they’re often from friends. They begin with a passage from the Holy Scriptures, something like the above reference from the book of Proverbs. Then they go on to demand that you send off a dozen or twenty copies to acquaintances of yours, perhaps your entire computer listing of addresses. And they always come with a warning: Don’t break the chain. If you continue the chain, good things will happen. Woe to you, on the other hand, if you dare disregard this message, because misfortune will befall you. One such letter came to me recently with another quotation from the Bible about trusting in God.
“Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock” (Isaiah 26:4).
The irony is clear—the message contains a direct contradiction. Nobody can offer us better advice than to trust in the Lord with all our mind heart and soul. However, the text of the chain letter is a direct denial of that sterling scriptural advice. If the Lord is my Guide and Helper, Him in whom I place my trust, and if He is trustworthier than my parents, spouse or siblings, what need do I have to fulfill the dictates of the letter sent to me explaining trust? The letter sent to me either anonymously or even by somebody I know and consider a friend obligates me to abide by its dictates; but then I no longer have complete trust in the Lord. If I’m too frightened or too cowardly to disobey such silliness, it proves that I don’t have confidence in Christ Jesus and His heavenly Father. I do not live in hopes that good luck will follow me; I trust in the Lord. When misfortune plagues me, I thank the Lord for the opportunity to test my faith, love and trust in God’s plan for me. It often includes frustration, closed doors, little or large amounts of suffering, but like St. Paul I say [or try to] that they do not crush me to the ground. Or even if they do, I won’t stay there.
The Bible is replete with warnings against superstition and witchcraft. How disappointing it was for the Hebrews to watch their first king, Saul, abandon his trust in God and seek out a fortune teller to explain the future. (I Samuel 28:7)
True Christians are free beings. They realize that they have the gift of freedom, and they offer it to the Lord our God. You cannot give the Lord a gift of yourself if you are owned or controlled by something outside yourself. If you are enslaved to some forces that dominate you, then you must obtain your freedom first in order to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. He has come to liberate you from sin, death, and any force that would hold you and lay claim to you. The great theme of Faust is about one who would sell his soul to the devil in order to obtain knowledge. Actually, the same theme comes from the Garden of Eden. Many and most subtle are the ways of evil.