Can we really have peace and joy without trusting God?

Christians talk about experiencing God’s peace. God’s love. The joy of experiencing God’s Prescence. And of course, our need for faith in God. But how often do we think about trust? Specifically, for today’s topic, can we really have peace and joy without trusting God?

The adjacent image was done by Bing Chat / GPT-4 / DALL-E 3.

As such, the objects in it come from various sources.

In this case, they are both secular and religious.

The thing they have in common is that they’re all elements of trust.

I’ve been using AI for a while now, in certain circumstances. One of the reasons I at least check it out is to get a sense for what it finds. We have to be careful with AI, because it doesn’t always return things that are true. However, it does get its information from what’s out on the internet.

Yes, it can be skewed somewhat based on the sources it’s directed to by those who code and control it. However, it’s not really intelligence in the sense it can make things up. It returns what it finds, albeit with a language style that’s a combination of what we choose, how it’s coded, and what it finds on the internet.

As such, the image above is, to some degree, representative of what’s out on the internet right now. And that was interesting.

How trust is represented by a hand holding a broken heart, a dove, a rainbow, and an olive branch.

I want to go through the image first. This will tell us something about the current thinking on the word “trust” at this point in time. Then, we’ll compare/contrast that with a Biblical view of trusting God.

My question about what trust is.

I began with a simple question: what are core elements of trust?

Here’s how Chat GPT-4 responded:

Trust is a complex and multifaceted concept that can be defined and measured in different ways. However, some common elements of trust that are often cited in the literature are:

• • Reliability: This means being consistent, dependable, and predictable in one’s actions and words. People who are reliable follow through on their commitments, keep their promises, and do what they say they will do.
  • Honesty: This means telling the truth, admitting mistakes, and avoiding deception or manipulation. People who are honest are truthful, sincere, and candid in their communication.
  • Goodwill: This means acting in good faith, showing benevolence, and caring for others. People who have goodwill are respectful, supportive, and cooperative with others.
  • Competency: This means having the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform one’s tasks effectively and efficiently. People who are competent are well-informed, knowledgeable, and experienced in their domains.
  • Openness: This means being vulnerable, transparent, and willing to share information and emotions with others. People who are open are receptive, expressive, and authentic in their interactions.

These elements of trust can be applied to different types of relationships, such as interpersonal, organizational, or societal. Trust can also vary in degree, intensity, and scope depending on the context and situation. Trust is not static, but dynamic and evolving over time. Trust can be built or broken by one’s actions and behaviors.

Therefore, it is important to cultivate and maintain trust in one’s personal and professional life.

The four primary sources were both interesting and somewhat surprising.

1. hbr.org – The Harvard Business Review – Elements of Trust
2. hellojust.com – A nonprofit financial platform working to close the racial wealth gap by investing in ambitious Texas women through capital, peer coaching & community – The 5 Key Elements of Trust
3. psychologytoday.com – Psychology Today – The 3 C’s of Trust
4. www2.deloitte.com – A global company involved in various business services – Enterprise Trust

Through those primary sources, my question about the core elements of trust was given.

How the image was generated:

My request to generate an image was quite simple: can you make me an image of trust? make it look like water colors. It came back with four images, all of which had the same elements. I chose the one you see at the top.

Maybe you’re with me on my question about the image. I asked it, “why did you put the broken heart in the images of trust?” That seemed weird. Why should there be a broken heart if the image is about trust. As you read “the response”, keep in mind, it’s not like Chat GPT4, or any other AI software, has feelings. It reflects the feelings of things it was “trained on”. Things that people wrote about trust. Therefore, what you’re about to read isn’t a machine’s understanding of trust. It’s about what real people wrote about their experiences with trust.

I put the broken heart in the image of trust because I wanted to show that trust can be fragile and easily broken by betrayal, dishonesty, or unfaithfulness. Trust is not something that can be taken for granted, but something that needs to be nurtured and protected. A broken heart can symbolize the pain and loss that one feels when trust is violated or destroyed. However, a broken heart can also be healed and mended by forgiveness, compassion, and reconciliation. Trust can be restored and rebuilt by honesty, goodwill, reliability, competency, and openness. Therefore, the broken heart in the image of trust is not only a sign of sorrow, but also a sign of hope.

That “response” is so true. And it is also full of sorrow. And it could also be a sign of hope. The fact that people write things that lead a machine that’s programmed to ingest people’s writings, analyze the words without understanding them, and then put out a summary like that, it means some people get it. And that’s a sign of hope.

And yet, it’s just as true, from looking around the world, that the reality is we spend a lot more time and energy on things that break trusts rather then build them. And that is very sorrowful. We get it. But we don’t do anything about the reality that we’re failing at it.

Why is trusting God so hard?

Trusting God is hard. It can be very hard. The Bible shows that it is, or at least used to be, easy for little children to trust God.

Let’s look closely ay just one example. Here’s what’s in the 1984 NIV Translation:

The Little Children and Jesus – Matthew

19:13-15 pp — Mk 10:13-16; Lk 18:15-17

Mt 19:13 Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

Mt 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Now, let’s look at the same verses from Young’s Literal translation.

Mt 19:13 Then were brought near to him children that he might put hands on them and pray, and the disciples rebuked them.

14 But Jesus said, ‘Suffer the children, and forbid them not, to come unto me, for of such is the reign of the heavens;’ 15 and having laid on them his hands, he departed thence.  ¹Young, R. (1997). Young’s Literal Translation (Mt 19:13–15). Logos Bible Software.

In addition to the grammar and some words we don’t really use anymore, there are two really big differences. Do you see them?

Before I point them out, let’s look at a third translation. One that matches the original Greek more closely. Even more closely that Young’s Literal Translation – at least for the particular word(s) I’m we’re going to pay attention to, which surprised me. Here’s the same verses from the International Standard Translation.

Jesus Blesses the Little Children

(Mark 10:13–16; Luke 18:15–17)

Mt 19:13 Then some little children were brought to him so that he might lay his hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 Jesus, however, said, “Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to people like these.” 15 When he had laid his hands on them, he went on from there.  ²International Standard Version (Mt 19:13–15). (2011). ISV Foundation.

OK – now, do you see the differences?

Leet’s try one more thing, just in case you haven’t caught it yet.

Notice there are two places that are highlighted. Each of them has two things highlighted. Both have 1161 highlighted. However, one of them has it translated as “But”, while the other just has a black dot, meaning the translators decided not to translate that word into English.

Now, go back and read all three translations again. You’ll notice that the NIV left out where Jesus said “but”. Young’s Literal Translation, for some reason, translated it as “and”. Of the three, only the International Standard Translation chose to put in a word that in some easy indicated a difference of opinion.

Why? There may be a published reason somewhere, but my library isn’t that extensive. I don’t know. I just find it somewhere between annoying and disturbing when things like that happen. The original (Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek) is what Christians (should) believe is the inerrant word of God. When we don’t get it, and the translators seemingly should’ve known this, especially when they have the great big dot to indicate an untranslated word, then we aren’t reading, in any sense of the phrase, the inerrant word of God.

The Greek text has two distinct places where something along the lines of “but” would be included. But it’s not.

Here’s the thing about the Greek Word – it’s usage.

1254 δέ (de): pt. and cj.; ≡ Str 1161—1. LN 89.94 and, a marker of an addition, sometimes implying a contrast (Tit 1:1); 2. LN 89.87 and then, a marker of closely related events (Mt 1:2); 3. LN 89.124 but, a marker of contrast (Mt 22:14; Jn 7:10); 4. LN 91.4 νυνὶ δέ (nyni de), and so, but now; a marker of a summary statement (1Co 13:13), see BAGD and grammars for more in-depth analysis.  ³Swanson, J. (1997). In Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.). Logos Research Systems, Inc.

It could be translated as “and”, “then”, or some other words. But, (pun intended), in this case it’s hard to imagine this not being two instances of contrast. The parents wanted to have Jesus bless their children. But the disciples were saying not to do that. But Jesus said to go ahead and don’t stop them. Since the original Greek seems to want to draw out the differences, why don’t we get the full effect in the more common English translations?

To be fair, the New King James Version does do this:

Mt 19:13 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.  ⁴The New King James Version (Mt 19:13–15). (1982). Thomas Nelson.

So, why is trusting God so hard?

Well, we just saw two examples. One is that sometimes it’s hard to actually get God’s Word. And this one’s just a issue of deciding not to translate a word. When we add in cultural differences between now and thousands of years ago, loss of rich meanings when the original word has no modern counterpart, history that we don’t know, and all sorts of other things, God could have delivered a clear message to people at the time – but it goes right over our heads because we don’t take the time to put ourselves in their sandals thousands of yeats ago.

There’s also the practical issue of what happened in that passage we tore apart to find two missing words.

After all that, it seems that there’s something in children that they want God. And we, people, teach them not to. Even well meaning Christians can do that. Maybe without even thinking about it. But, shouldn’t we be thinking about it and trying very, very hard, with God’s help, not to do that? Do you think may the Holy Spirit’s trying to get our attention every time we begin to turn a child away from Jesus? But we’re not paying enough attention to realize it?

Why else is trusting God so hard?

So far we looked at people turning us/children away from God. But let’s take a look at that broken heart piece of the image.

Broken Families can make trusting God difficult

Some of us have/had issues with family. It can be especially hard to trust God if part or all of the problem is with the father. God presents Himself as the Father in the Bible. For those of us who find it hard to trust anyone because of our fathers, that alone can make it hard to trust God.

Many people had a problem with The Shack when it came out. I never read the book, so I don’t know about it, but there was a lot of complaining about the presentation of God in the movie.

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image by Bing Chat / GPT-4 / DALL-E 3

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Footnotes

• 1
  Young, R. (1997). Young’s Literal Translation (Mt 19:13–15). Logos Bible Software.
• 2
  International Standard Version (Mt 19:13–15). (2011). ISV Foundation.
• 3
  Swanson, J. (1997). In Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
• 4
  The New King James Version (Mt 19:13–15). (1982). Thomas Nelson.