In God We Trust

If you happened to be in the Pancake House early on Monday mornings, you may not notice a table near the back, where four men would break fast together and begin the work week in prayer.  They were not overbearing in their religion, but if the waitress Martha happened to seat you at a table near them, you would notice that they were passionate about their beliefs.  They were not boisterous--who is, before sunrise on a Monday?--but if you listened closely, you might say they were intense.

The older man, Aaron, sat with his back to the wall.  He was clearly the leader, and the others would often ask him questions regarding their faith.  Both at the beginning of their meetings, and at the end, Aaron would lead the other men in prayer.  They would often share challenges in their lives: mistakes they had made in their marriages or in raising their kids, setbacks at their jobs, or especially trying times in their relationship with God.  There were good reports, as well, often echoed by "Praise the Lord," or "Hallelujah."

Aaron would always arrive first, and Martha would have a cup of coffee waiting for him.  On this particular day Aaron looked up from his cup and saw Pete coming through the door.  Pete was the largest of the four; at six feet four inches and 320 pounds, one could easily mistake him for a professional athlete.  He greeted Aaron with a big bear hug.  As the two were exchanging small talk, the other two men in their group arrived.  Jake and Sean were brothers, but each with his own very distinct personality.  Jake was crafty and alert, always trying to outfox his opponents, whether in business or across the table at the weekly prayer meetings.  Sean was good-hearted and amiable, always eager to lend a hand to anyone in need.

"Well, here we are," said Pete.  "Just like the early church, who met 'early in the morning on the first day of the week'."

Aaron smiled.  "Acts chapter 20, verse 7."

Jake smirked.  "Isn't Sunday the first day of the week?  And didn't the early church meet on Sunday, in honor of the day of Jesus' resurrection from the dead?"

"You know what?" Sean punched his brother on the shoulder.  "Let's eat.  I'm starved."

Martha placed coffee before the two brothers, and a Diet Coke in front of Pete.  "What will you have, boys?" she said.  "The waffles are good this morning."

The men ordered, and Martha left them alone.  After asking each member of the group how their week had gone, Aaron led them in prayer.  When he finished, he asked them, "Did you remember the homework assignment I gave you last week?  Instead of listening to me give a morning devotional thought, you were supposed to all study Psalm chapter 16, and bring back a report of what it meant to you."

The other three all groaned in unison, but each of them took out a page where they had written notes.  Aaron smiled and continued.  "This is a Psalm of Trust.  David was praying to God for protection, but he was remembering what God had done in his life, and the things he had been taught about God's nature.  Last week I asked you to read the psalm, and think about what you might say about it if you had a chance to share in a Bible Study, Sunday School class, or even if you were asked to preach a sermon.  I even gave you a working title: In God We Trust.  Let me read the psalm first, and then we can each listen to what God has spoken to each of us about this passage."

Preserve me, O God, for in you I have put my trust.  O my soul, you have said to the Lord, "You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from you."  As for the saints who are on the earth, "They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."  Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names upon my lips.  O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance, and my cup.  You maintain my lot.  The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance.  I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons.  I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.  Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope.  For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy.  At your right hand are pleasures evermore.

Pete cleared his throat.  "I guess I'll go first," he said.  "I think this passage is talking about idolatry.  So many time we get our eyes off of God, and trust our ways with other things.  We don't necessarily bow down to graven images so much anymore, but we do tend to look to other things to meet our needs.  Like work.  It gives us something to do, something to keep our minds occupied, but it also gives us a paycheck.  So many people at my job are there all hours of the day or night, trying to get ahead, trying to make the deal, or get the overtime, or get the promotion.  It's like their god is the almighty dollar.  But sooner or later, like verse 4 says, they are sorry for time they missed with their families.  They are sorry for wasting so much of their lives working, and in the end they don't have anything to show for it.  No family, no friends, and no real relationship with God.  In my own life, I'd rather be called a saint.  I want God to look at me and say, 'Good job; I really delight in you.'  In the end, my own efforts at being good, of making a good life and a good living, are nothing without God's help.  So I want to place my trust in Him, not in me or my work, or my possessions."

Aaron smiled.  "Thanks, Pete.  You gave us all something to think about.  The passage is so deep, though, that you could really go a lot further with that line of thinking.  You could really plumb the depths, and talk about a lot of things from this chapter.  That's why I asked all three of you to share from the same Scripture today.  Jake, what do you have for us?"

"Well," Jake started, nervously.  "I see God's gifts as being sufficient for our needs.  Verse 5 talks about God giving each of us our own portion, and making our lot secure.  I know David was a king and all, so his inheritance was really, really good, you know?  But every one of us has gifts from God that we can use to live on and use for our own purposes.  I think there is a warning here against gambling--taking what God has meant for us to use for Him and for ourselves, and risking it in hopes of a big payoff.  But if I won the lottery, you know, I'd take my eyes off Him, you know, and kind of rely on my own.  Like Pete said, we need to rely on God and not on what we don't have.  There in verse 7, where it talks about the Lord giving us counsel, so that our hearts know what to do even at night.  Like, most sins happen at night time, you know?  Gambling, adultery, stealing, you know, most of those things happen in the dark.  But the Bible says we should walk in the light as He is in the light, you know?  We should be holy, and not corrupt; 'cause when we put on the righteousness of God, you know, He takes delight in us and we have true joy.  Not the joy of hitting it big in Vegas, you know, but true joy, like only the Lord can give."

"Well," mused Aaron, "you certainly hit on some examples where our trust might be misplaced.  But I don't think that David was talking about the particular sin of gambling here.  We should always use Scripture to help us make good decisions.  But when we pick out a theme and try to find Scriptures to support it, that's called 'isogesis', and it's something we should be careful about.  But if God is working in your heart, Jake, about gambling or those other sins you mentioned, who am I to stand in the way?  I hope you were blessed in the study of that passage.  Sean, what do you have for us?"

As all eyes turned to look at Sean, he was beaming.  "Brother Aaron, I am really excited about this particular psalm.  You see, I read in the study helps in the footnotes of my Bible, and it says that this is a companion psalm to Psalm 23.  We all memorized Psalm 23 when we were kids, right?  We could probably all recite it from memory now.  Look at verse 2: "I said to the Lord, You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."  Now look at Psalm 23, verse 1: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want."  We all have needs.  God provides our needs.  When we trust Him to meet our needs, they are met.  Period.  And since God is the source, we know that everything He gives is good.  We can't do good on our own.  The World doesn't give good things to us.  We can either trust in ourselves and have nothing; or trust in the World and have our needs met, but still feel something is lacking; or we can trust in God, and know that we lack nothing.

"Look at verses seven and eight of chapter 16: 'I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  I have set the Lord always before me.  Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.'  Now look at Psalm 23:4, where it says, 'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for your are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.'  God takes care of us in the darkest night, in the deepest valley, even to the point of death.  If we trust in Him, we will not fear, we will not be shaken.

"Go back to verse 5 of Psalm 16: 'Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.'  Psalm 23:5 says, 'You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.'  As Christians, our hope and trust is in the Lord.  He will meet our needs, every time.  Jake talked about David being a king, so his portion was bigger.  But God is our king, and we are His children; so don't we have more wealth at our disposal than King David ever had?  The world just looks at us in wonder, because where they have graft and corruption, there is greed and discontent.  You guys know that I don't make a ton of money, not by American standards.  But if you look at all the people in the world, all the poverty, anybody in America who has a cell phone and a television set--we are the 1% even when folks just like us are demonstrating in the streets, chanting 'We are the 99%'.  They just have no idea how blessed they are.  And as Christians, we are even more blessed, because we are children of the King.  We are anointed, guys!  Our cup overflows.  And if it empties out, we have an intimate relationship with the Source.

"Finally, look at Psalm 16, verse 11: 'You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.'  Compare that to Psalm 23:6, where it says, 'Surely goodness and mercy (or love) will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.'  We follow God, gentlemen, and He leads us in the paths of life and joy, of goodness and love.  There is no end to it, because it is promised to us forever.  That's God's promise.  That's why I trust in Him."

There was silence at the table, while the four men meditated on what they had just heard.  Then Jake looked at his watch and picked up the check.  "Well.  Aaron, I hope you have a good word for us next week.  This homework thing feels too much like I'm back in school again."

"It's good to get out of our comfort zone from time to time," Aaron said.  "Let's pray.  God, thank you for these men and what they stand for.  Thank you for the message from your word, especially the word you gave to Sean today.  Above all, thank you for being trustworthy.  Help us to be faithful as you are faithful.  There are people out there who place limited trust in us.  As we walk the walk and talk the talk, let us always put our full trust in you.  In Jesus' name we ask it, amen."

As always, the men paid their tickets, left a generous tip, and bade farewell to each other with hearty handshakes, and promises to call each other during the week to keep each other accountable.  Then they went their separate ways.  Just four men, who look like everybody else, leaving the Pancake House with their stomachs filled and their spirits raised.  And Martha, before she cleaned their table, scribbled some lines on the back of  her notepad.  Because even if you may not have noticed the four nondescript men at the back table, someone did.