We know that ours is a dangerous world; but we are also told to trust God. How does this knowledge fit together with this advice?
Some say that, given a world like ours, it makes no sense to trust God.
Some believers place their trust in God in such a way that they feel just fine about remaining ignorant and inactive in their response to dangers.
Some who believe in God experience some degree of anxiety, unravelling of trust, when reading or hearing and seeing gripping reports of some present and worsening danger.
And many people know intellectually that trust in God is consistent with being informed and active in helping this world to stabilize and progress; but they could profit from a stronger understanding.
Why did God create an imperfect world where so many things could go so seriously wrong? When we’re struggling, we may hardly be able even to imagine an answer. But Jesus prayed, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” There is a realm where the will of God is done. And however little we understand the divine purpose, we who have tasted the goodness of God have a foundation for trust in his plan. Our loving Father in heaven chose to create an evolutionary realm which begins in imperfection and is called to perfection (“Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect”). The divine venture in bringing forth an evolutionary creation is magnificent in its significance and tremendous in its scope. The very thought that we have some role, however small, to play in this process should thrill us to the core.
But why would a wise, powerful, and good Creator give us the freedom to be so destructive? Our freedom is limited, but we need enough freedom to be able to make the great decision to say YES to God with every fiber of our being. Mercifully, God accepts the beginner’s faith of a child, welcomes us into his family, and gives us the promise of eventual transformation and enduring life. But the freedom required to say YES is the same freedom that can inflict terrible harm.
In this time of stress—and progress—around the world, mature faith remembers the invisible forces on the side of truth, beauty, goodness and love, forces that will never be taken into account in the news media. God loves us too much to do for us what we can do for ourselves. We can learn to cooperate with him and with one another. The more we do so, the more we see the power of God working with those who join in, who will one day see this world move into a settled and progressive march toward a grand planetary civilization.
Those of us who understand these things have the privilege of letting our light shine effectively. We may disagree about the analysis of dangers and their specific solutions, but we do not need intellectual uniformity to experience spiritual unity, which transforms teamwork by revealing to us who our neighbors, associates, and team-members truly are: each one is a divinely created, infinitely loved, spiritually indwelt, evolutionary, free-will son or daughter of God. That realization of the universal family brings today salvation for the individual and in the future a planetary spiritual renaissance.
I remember reading about Thomas Aquinas juxtaposed to Aristotle. He stated that every action has a reaction. If one smiles at another person, they are extending kindness to the person to whom they are speaking. The person to whom the smile is sent can be answered in 4 ways. 1. The smile sender may receive a smile back; 2. the sender may receive no comment: 3. the sender may not get a smile back, but make another feel good; 4. the sender may have an angry response. All 4 of these reactions are possible. Likewise, a person may be mean to another. 1. The recipient may respond with meanness; 2. the recipient may ignore the mean person; 3. the recipient may engage in a fight with the original person; 4. the recipient may internalize the meanness, making the recipient feel badly, or if the meanness is repeated several times, the recipient may internalize the hurt and become ill, or depending how rough the meanness is the recipient may attempt or commit suicide. These latter 2 reactions unfortunately many times happens still today with teenagers, especially. Of course, a smile returned, and a meanness ignored, or forgiven is what God wants us to do. Why do we have brains? To think? Yes. To be children of God eternally, in these 2 cases, the kind response is necessary. Also, when one hurts another, an apology or a stronger apologetic response, if the hurt is great, should follow, but many times, this last phase does not occur as people go different ways. God wants us to be like Him, not by force, but by free will. Seeing all these differing responses, our free will can cause serious problems, God wants us to “learn how to fish.” Free will is each human being’s choice. We must learn from our mistakes. Also, we must learn learn from others’ mistakes to not fall into indifference or cruelty. Truly we are on the cusp of change, and as beloved children of Our Heavenly Father and as brothers and sisters in Christ, we must think good thoughts, say kind words, and do kind deeds. Here, and only then, are we set free and The Kingdom of God will be on earth as it is in heaven. Earth is a learning ground, turning into The Kingdom of God. Then too, the Kingdom of God can be established in one’s heart, but that is on a personal level. When we are all good people doing kindnesses, we will be The Kingdom of God on Earth as It is in Heaven.
It is indeed a dangerous world that we live in, but being two-fold beings, one material and mortal the other increasingly spiritual and immortal, the danger in this world refers to our material and mortal selves. There is no escaping from it. But there is a marvelous plan in effect that will eventually make this world as safe materially as it is spiritually for us. In the meantime, we should all labor to make this world a safe place materially, by making our contribution to the progress of it. There really is no place for a free ride, despite that fact that many do so.
Spiritually, we should trust God because he is the one that guarantees that nothing can harm the individual spiritually. As we move through the mortal life, we should increasingly identify with our spiritual natures, where we will realize the security of our heavenly Father who loves us.
It is a marvelous plan but we must exercise faith to realize it. God is good and is worthy of our trust!
Dr. Perry
I drew a picture on my computer that has the title,”Eyes or Donut Holes.” To me this drawing signifies that when someone else needs help and another person sees this need for help., they use their eyes and help. The person who “sees” that which is going on before him/her, and acts positively to help the other person is the proper reaction. A small example, if one took a shower at a health club and was burned by scalding hot water, sure, they jump away fast, but they also must notify the person in charge. Then, too, if someone got burned a day before in that shower, if they see someone entering that shower, the person must tell the other person about what happened the day before. If the someone who knows about the scalding hot water and does not notify a person stepping into that shower the next day, their eyes are like donut holes. God wants us always to help our brothers and sisters. Seeing requires positive action!
To discern the true needs of a brother or sister and to meet those needs imparts the supreme joy.
Great examples.
Dr Perry
Dear Paula and Dr. Perry, thank you for your conversation, which I am seeing only today after a busy week.