Whom do we trust in?
September 11, 2023 - Monday, 23rd Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm 62:6-7, 9
In the Catechism of our Church, under the heading “THE IMPLICATIONS OF FAITH IN ONE GOD”, we find a beautiful prayer of trust composed by St. Teresa of Jesus:
“Let nothing trouble you / Let nothing frighten you
Everything passes / God never changes
Patience / Obtains all
Whoever has God / Wants for nothing
God alone is enough.” (CCC, 227).
Psalm 62 begins with a confession of trust in God: “Only in God is my being quiet” (Ps 62:2, Robert Alter’s Version). The word “only” appears six times in this psalm, which is not always evident in translations. In verses 2, 3, 6 and 7 it refers to God, in verse 5 to those who plan to destroy an innocent person, and in verse 10 it indicates the ephemeral existence of human beings. In comparison to God, human beings are “only breath”.
Like St. Teresa of Jesus, the psalmist is a person of profound trust in God. And he invites us to trust in God, “at all times”. Such trust is one of the implications of faith in one God. The Catechism says that to believe in one God means “trusting God in every circumstance, even in adversity” (CCC, 227). The psalmist was sure that by trusting God he would not stumble (Ps 62:3, 7) and St. Faustina revealed in her diary that she walked through life trusting in God’s mercy.
The psalmist calls us to pause and ask ourselves: Who do we trust? It appears that we are placing our trust in ourselves. We put trust in what the psalmist and the prophets call “mere breath” or “withering grass” and do not consider the Lord and His word that “stands forever” (Is 40:6-8). There are books claiming that human beings are becoming more god-like, pointing to our incredible achievements in science, medicine, and technology. On the other hand, the biblical authors warn against trusting in ourselves and our achievements. The strongest warning comes from the prophet Jeremiah, who says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD” (Jer 17:5).
So, whom do we put our trust in? In God, who is described as “rock, rescue, stronghold, and fortress” (Ps 62:3,7) or in human beings who, according to the psalmist, when placed on the scales weigh less than a breath (Ps 62:10)?