In God We Trust?
by Velvel "Wally" Spiegler

The second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them (Exodus 20:4 –5).” What is God trying to tell us here? Is He merely a jealous God, one who commands us for his purposes only?  Or is this prohibition against images for our benefit? The sculptured image, as if you haven’t already guessed, is our cherished material objects, our revered thoughts and our idolized relationships. You may ask—what’s wrong with a desire for accumulating such possessions? Nothing other than it separates us from our attachment with God, and the subsequent loss of trust in His miraculous powers.

Take any denomination of U.S. currency and you will find emblazoned on the reverse side, “In God We Trust”. But do we actually trust God? It’s hard for many people to trust, so what can we trust?  If God is not the top priority for trust, the who or what is? Can you trust your bank, the government, the news media, your employer, your friends or family members? Can we even trust ourselves? In who or in what can we trust? Trust appears to be a function of what the future holds in store, and that’s the major source of worry and anxiety, not to mention the numerous stress related illnesses

What precisely does it mean to trust? My dictionary lists the word as “belief in something as true” with synonyms such as assurance, confidence, and certainty. I would add—to know that circumstances always work out for the best. Trust is more like faith, rather than belief. Belief is a mental construct that can be changed at will. Faith and trust are permanent attributes that are innate, built-in to our consciousness but are easily clouded over by sculptured images. What’s the alternative to not trusting? Pain, suffering and illness. Again, as the Torah offers us blessings and curses, we’re again presented with two choices—trusting and not trusting. Which one do you choose?

Can bad things happen to good people? Absolutely! Ill fate, as well as fortune, happens according to God’s will.  His will was brought into creation for the benefit of all of mankind and for the evolving growth of the universe. With our limited capacity to understand God’s ways, we often confuse valuable messages as suffering. Illness often requires us to halt our frenetic activities for a while in order to reassess our priorities.  Is God’s will then is the message behind human suffering?

Some of us think we can think things through in order to work out deep-seated problems. Trying to think things through, clouds over our ability to stay under the sheltering canopy of God’s grace. Sometimes temporary solutions can emanate, but modern psychology knows that permanent resolutions are never a quick fix. But even more realistic is that years of psychotherapy merely enable us to cope with difficult solutions, while trust in God’s decisions always yields a beneficial outcome. Check out previous experiences that worked in your favor and those that did not. How did you respond in each of those situations? Did you trust that problems would resolve for the ultimate good, or were you more determined to resolve the situations by your own means. What does one do when the suffering that results from lack of trust becomes devastating? That’s when to embark upon investigating trust; trusting is healing.

How can we cultivate trust? I think prayer is the most effective tool that’s available to us. Prayer confirms that by trusting, all of our essential needs are provided for. The Amidah of the daily prayer service acknowledges these needs—we pray for wisdom, forgiveness, healing, redemption and more. But when we open our hearts to God, we get what we need, whether we believe it or not. The Sh’ma, the prayer that affirms our faith, with its blessings before and after, creates trust through our declaration of praise and miracles. Over time, paying particular attention to the verses of miracles brings about a deep sense of trust. This one, for example, comes from the Shabbat evening service: Who is like You among the heavenly powers, Hashem! Who is like You, mighty in holiness, too awesome for praise, doing wonders! Your children beheld your majesty, as You split the sea before Moses: “This is my God” they exclaimed.

In addition to prayer, the Torah provides us with many models of the consequences of ignoring
God’s decrees. No sooner did  the Israelites leave Egypt, they were attacked by Amalek. Moses instructed Joshua to select a few able-bodied men to go out and take up arms against the invader. With Moses positioned at the top of a hill with the staff of God gripped firmly in his hand, the Israelites prevailed only under the direction of God. He raised it only with the consent of God. Likewise, Aaron’s two sons met their fate when they decided to ignite holy incense without the authorization of God.

Torah also commands us to observe Shabbat. The one day of the week that we know our every need is taken care of—there’s no work to be done and no acts of interfering with the natural world, God’s creation—and yet our lives go on without effort. Like acquiring a sense of Shabbat, trust also demands a time for blossoming. Practicing patience is crucial in developing trust. Ordinary time must be for the sake of instant gratification, if we expect to reap the benefits of sacred time.

Trusting is not something that comes naturally to us. It has to be attained. We grew up experiencing certain hurts and disappointments as we ripened into maturity. These need to be recognized and released if we are to learn to trust. A life that includes trust in God is a joyous life. Those are among the lessons the Torah is trying to teach. It’s difficult for adults to learn new “tricks”, but trust in God leads the list of significant human values.  It’s not as difficult as we may think; every attempt at trusting is one step closer.