A Matter of Trust

There’s a well-known story involving Dutch holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom (pictured here) about the power of forgiveness. Shortly after being freed from a Nazi concentration camp, Corrie spoke about that experience at a church in Munich, Germany. A former camp guard that Corrie recognized approached her, extended his hand and asked for her forgiveness. Corrie struggled at first while she stood face-to-face with one of her former captors. Finally, Corrie shook the man’s hand and in her own words: “I had never known God’s love so intensely, as I did then.”

A few years ago, I experienced a forgiveness test at a revival meeting in the Minneapolis area. Around the time the preacher talked about forgiving others, I noticed a familiar-looking man leaning up against the wall. It turned out to be my former best friend whom I hadn’t seen in over a decade. “Stephen” betrayed me by getting into an adulterous relationship with my then-wife who separated from me and subsequently filed for divorce. Immediately, I reminded the Lord of my forgiving Stephen but had a feeling we would end up talking that night.

After responding to an altar call and doing some “carpet time”, I went to use the bathroom. Sure enough, Stephen was also in there. He asked to speak with me, and we moved out to the lobby. After a few minutes passed without him mentioning my ex-wife, I went ahead and told Stephen I had forgiven him for betraying me. He thanked me but didn’t apologize or say anything that sounded like genuine remorse. Stephen said something about contacting my ex-wife’s father again. He also wanted to stay in touch with me through the Internet. Although I later showed him my website on my laptop, I didn’t have peace about giving him my email address.  

Sometimes boundaries need to be set when a professing Christian breach their trust. Even Jesus didn’t have blind faith in people. John 2:24 (NLT) says, “But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature.” While we are to believe the best of every person (1 Corinthians 13:7), it’s unfortunate when a lifetime of trust gets broken in seconds.

“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” - Psalm 118:8