Trust in God is an active choice, something we choose to do and live out every single day. “Trust in God does not ensure outward success. Nor does it promise that we will not face difficulties in our lives. What trust in God will do is enable us to rise above despair and cynicism. It will keep us connected to God even in the most difficult circumstances. It will produce fruit even in what looks like unproductive soil.”
August 10, 2025
Five Smooth Stones, Part 2
“Trust: One Day at a Time”
Jeremiah 17: 5-8
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Jeremiah 17: 5-8
Thus says the Lord: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
Trust: One Day at a Time Jeremiah 17: 5-8
We are continuing our conversation regarding the five smooth stones. As I mentioned last week, we are embracing their invitation to be tools of spiritual discipline to build, to strengthen our relationship with God. And again this week, we are taking a look at a concept which is hard to put into words but one we know plays an important part in us becoming the person God created and calls us to be, that concept is Trust, as in trust in the Lord. Or as Jeremiah puts it in our text today… Trust is the Lord”
Think of trust as the heart of our faith. Trust is the strength which fuels our passion for the Gospel message. Trust is our dedication to our call, to our vocation. Trust is the “and” of our faith, meaning we know there will be days of great joy in our lives, and we know that there will be days of great sorrow and we trust that God is in the process, bringing about God’s beloved Community here on Earth for all of God’s people. Think of trust as the heart of our faith. Trust and faith support one another. They work together to help us see a more complete vision of God at work in this world.
Now, I know that in our churches or in our faith conversations, we use, we hear the phrase, “Just put your trust in God and everything will be okay” a lot. But we never really acknowledge that this particular phrase has a complicated existence in our communities. Yes, as people of faith, we are called to put our trust in God and in doing so, because we know the character of God, because we know that God is in the process, because we know love and light will always have the last word, we know that everything will be okay. Sure, it might not be what we expected, planned or even hoped for but we know that we can put our trust in God and know that everything will be okay.
And on the other hand, this phrase is often an empty platitude, offered by us well intentioned folks, given to others when we don’t know what to say in the situation. It can come off as cold, callous, unfeeling, and yes even irresponsible. I say that last one because we often offer that “Just put your trust in God” phrase instead of engaging in an authentic relationship with the other person, instead of sitting in the uncomfortable silence with that person. We often offer the “Just trust in God” phrase as a way for us to just say something now so that we can get out of there real quick because if we know that if we stay it is going to get messy, and we don’t know how to do messy.”
Which is sad really because that is what trust is at its core…It is messy. It is uncomfortable. It is community. It is relationship. It is what binds us together. At its core, trust creates a safe space for lack of a better word for you to be you, and for me to be me, for all of us to become the people God created and calls us to be. At its core, trust reminds us that we cannot do life with all its ups and downs, its joys and sorrows. At its core, trust reminds us that we cannot do it all on our alone, that we need people around us, to support us, to love us, to challenge us, to encourage us, to walk with us, to let us know that we are missing the mark of becoming the person God created us to be. Trust reminds us that we need people in our lives and just not any people, because day in and day, we are often surrounded by people but are alone. No, trust reminds us that we need people in whom we feel comfortable enough with that we can let down the walls, people who actively work to create spaces where we can see beyond the labels. Trust reminds us that we need people in our lives, in our communities, in our everyday moments, we need people who hold the vision of God’s Beloved Community before us and invite us to be our true, authentic vulnerable selves.
Now, I think it is only fair to admit that I may be up here giving a sermon on Trust but by no means, do I have the spiritual discipline of trust mastered. Because more often than not, I find myself saying in any given situation, I find myself saying, “Okay God, I trust that you are in the process BUT if you could do it my way, and do it on my time, that would be great.” You would think I would have learned by now, it does not work that way but what I can say…stubbornness runs in the family.
What I am discovering along my faith journey is that trust takes practice, the practice of taking a pause, the practice of taking a breath or maybe two or three breaths, the practice of embracing the invitation to step back from my anxiety and need to fix the situation. For us as people of faith, the practice of trust is allowing, yes allowing the Spirit to move in ways which we deemed illogical, impossible or cannot see because we are only focused on what is in front of us. Trust is the Lord.
This is the same advice the prophet Jeremiah gives to the people of Israel in our text for today. In context, Jeremiah is writing to the leaders of Israel as they figure out their next steps in light of the Babylonian invasion. They are forming alliances with Egypt in hopes of avoiding the invasion. Jeremiah tells them to trust in the Lord, not in political alliances or military strength.
Please hear me say, Jeremiah is not offering them a platitude at this moment. He is offering them sound advice. Jeremiah knows that there is no stopping the Babylonians. Their army is too great. They are THE most powerful empire at that time, and they have set their sights upon Israel. Regardless of the political alliances they make, Israel will fall.
Like most of the other prophets, in our text, Jeremiah is having a frank conversation with people. He is reminding them that life is complex, difficult and full of messiness, that the grace of God for the people of God is that God enters into that messiness with us.
So, in this messiness of an impending invasion, Jeremiah lays it out for the people….”You have two choices…trust in God or trust in human institutions. Which one has failed you over and over again?”
Jeremiah knows that at this moment, he has to lay it out on the line for the people of God, the same way I am doing for us today. He knows, I know, we know that as people of faith, trust in God is an active choice. It is something we have to choose to do and live out every single day. Sure, trust in God does not and will not ensure success or safety as defined by the larger world narrative, the narrative which tells us that power and might are the only way. Part of trust in God, okay a big part of trusting in God is letting go of that illusion because the fact of the matter is there will always be someone with more power. There will always be someone with more might. There will always be someone who uses the systems of oppression and destruction to get their way. Part of trusting in God, a big part of trusting in God, is recognizing that, naming that and realizing that is not how we want to spend our lives…using all our energy, and resources to be stuck in a zero-sum game.
What trusting in God does, what recognizing that trust is the Lord does for us as people of faith is that it invites us, it allows us to see a different way to be, a different way to thrive and not just survive. It enables us to rise above despair and cynicism. It keeps us connected to God even in the most difficult circumstances. It centers us. It grounds us. It opens our eyes to the ways God is at work in our world, bringing healing and wholeness for all of God’s people. What trusting in God does for us as people of faith is that it invites us to borrow a phrase from the Baptist Church here in town, it invites us to let God be God and we be love. As people of faith, we are called to trust in God, to hold that trust is God, knowing that God is in the process, bringing about God’s Beloved Community for all of God’s people here on Earth. And we do this one day at a time, one second at a time, one moment at a time, embracing the messiness of life as we practice our faith. May it be so. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, August 10, 2025 – Trust: One Day at a Time Jeremiah 17: 5-8.
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