What Do You Trust?

One

Broken Reeds, Pointed Staffs, and the Sure Support

The Prophet Isaiah, at one point, gives a warning about what kind of support to lean on. He warns not to lean on a broken reed, which is the sort of support that gives out when you put pressure on it, when you trust it. He also warns not to lean on a pointed staff, which is the sort of support that, when you try to trust it, or put pressure on it, will actually pierce your hand. 

So what are the things you put your trust in? What are your broken reeds? What are your pointed staffs? 

Two

Politics/Economics

When people reject God, the main things they count on are kings and gold. This is why people often seem the most interested in and seem the most worried about, politics and economics.

Remember, you can tell what people rely on, what they count on when you see what they worry about. What people worry about is the coming elections. What they worry about is the state of the economy. But the very fact that you have to worry about these things shows what unreliable things they are.

Politics all depend on who’s running, on the mindset of the voters at any given time, and on whatever backdoor deals happen behind the scenes. Politics are utterly unreliable. To hope in elections, to hope in kings, that’s leaning on a broken reed. 

And economics! What a complete house of cards! Money has no intrinsic value. Everything depends on what other people are willing to give for a dollar, on whether people are feeling confident or not, on whether the chairman of the Federal Reserve sees his shadow when he wakes up and decides to raise or lower interest rates. 

That’s not even a broken reed. It’s a wet noodle. You don’t want to place your peace in that!

No, if you waste any time worrying about politics or economics, you need to step back and place your trust and your peace in something more stable.

Three

Members of the Hierarchy

Some people get so caught up in Church scandals, they become so upset by the corruption and confusion in the Church and then they say silly things, like, “How can you trust the bishops? How can you trust the priests? How can you trust the Pope?’ But who said anything about trusting individual members of the hierarchy? After all, you only trust people you know and we don’t know most of the priests, bishops, or the pope. So why should we expect to trust them? 

History has shown, time and time again, that some members of the hierarchy, some priests and bishops and popes, have been tremendous saints. Some have been tremendous villains.

We’re not expected to trust individual members of the hierarchy with whom we don’t have a relationship. That would very often just mean leaning on very human, very weak reeds. We trust Christ, who has promised us that his Church, led by His hierarchy, will always give us the sacraments, and will, in its official teaching, always give us His truth.

That’s what you trust. That’s what you take to the bank. That’s where your peace lies. Don’t worry about what the hierarchy’s doing. Be grateful for Christ and His Church.

Four

Pleasure

Sometimes, when it seems like nothing in the outside world is reliable, we trust in our ability to find consolation in pleasure. But pleasure is too unstable for trustworthy support. There are legitimate pleasures, but plenty of times they bust out on us.

We sometimes can’t get any pleasure in reading, even our favorite book, or listening, even to our favorite song. We sometimes can’t enjoy even a pleasant walk in nature or a dip in the pool. A good meal and a hot drink. Sometimes, they can’t get us out of our funk.

Legitimate sources of pleasure are great gifts from God, but if you treat them as your primary support in life, they will be broken reeds. When we turn to illegitimate pleasures, to screen-binging, or drugs and drunkenness, or gossip, those are pointed staffs, that pierce the hands of any who try to lean on them. They don’t just let you down, they bring you down. They ensure that any emptiness or dissatisfaction gets worse and worse.

Recreation, necessary as it is, is not the place to put your trust.

Five

The Mistake of Trusting Yourself

Finally, some people make the ultimate mistake of what to trust and trust in themselves. They trust themselves to get it done, to do the right thing, succeed, and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that they have been excellent. Yeah. Good luck. Because you are simply not reliable. 

What happens when you get hurt or sick and you can’t get anything done? What happens when circumstances beyond your control allow other people to get ahead, while you get left behind? What happens when you have every opportunity to succeed, and instead, you just fail? You make stupid decisions or you let your selfishness and your addictions spoil the good that you could have had?

What’s the takeaway? Don’t trust on princes, or gold, or pleasure, or even priests. Princes and priests, gold and pleasure. These things are all good in themselves, but they can’t get you through life. And certainly you can’t. So what’s left? What’s left is simply to trust in God. 

When everything else gives out on you, when everything else lets you down, when you yourself let you down, you say with the Psalmist, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer – my God, my strong rock, in him will I trust.” (Psalm 18:2).