Trust Traps and True Confidence: Why Only God Is Fully Reliable

Summary

Trusting fallible people, systems, or ourselves alone eventually leads to disappointment and sometimes disaster. Like the Titan submersible, misplaced confidence works until it fails. True peace and fruitfulness require self-confidence anchored in something greater than ourselves. Scripture teaches that only God is completely trustworthy. His faithfulness never falters, never fatigues, and never fails. When people and things disappoint, trusting the faithful God provides unshakable confidence, peace, and security that endure across every generation.

When Broken Trust Leads to Disaster

In 2018, the Marine Technology Society told Stockton Rush that his construction of the Titan deep-sea submersible could end in disaster. One of the rules Rush knowingly broke was using carbon fibers and titanium to build it.

His breaking-the-rules risk worked until it did not. Previous trips to the extreme depths of the Titanic probably fatigued its construction materials. Experts guess extreme pressure crushed the Titan in less than one-tenth of a second.

The Hidden Dangers of Trust Traps

Trust traps work like that. Moreover, they are as common as mosquitoes near the water on a warm summer night.

Most of us trust only selected people and things. Eventually, they all fail us like a microwave oven that worked yesterday but not today.

We naturally trust our own experience, understanding, and intuition. But they are as fallible as Stockton Rush’s ideas of a safe submersible.

Although these three often let us down, the opposite, self-distrust, also has dire consequences. So, what do we do?

Why Self-Confidence Alone Falls Short

Confidence is important. Without it, we are like a toy poodle in a pack of Dobermans experiencing blowing and drifting anxiety. We are unconfident and avoid risks because they threaten us.

We live in our “safe” world without victory or defeat. That does not lend itself to bearing much fruit that will remain for God’s Kingdom (John 15:8).

Moreover, without trust in God’s adequacy in every situation, we cannot experience the bone marrow-deep peace He promises (Philippians 4:6-7). Instead of peace, panic reigns supremely.

To get peace, we must turn our worries into prayers and trust the One to whom we pray. We need self-confidence moored to someone or something trustworthy and bigger than ourselves.

Floating free without constraint, self-confidence loses all perspective. It is like a barn kitten imagining it is a lion. It is like a six-year-old who sees a superhero in every mirror.

Self-confidence is a double-edged sword. It can kill and enable. A Titan submersible and other trust traps remind us. Hubris is a billion-dollar self-image mounted on a ten-cent foundation.

The Need for Wise Counsel and Perspective

To thrive, we need input from others (Proverbs 13:10). Thanks to expert advice on YouTube videos, my ability to fix things around the house has significantly improved.

The videos are my self-confidence springboard. The wise advice of many counselors is good, but we need more.

Why Only God Is Fully Reliable

Much of what we trust is like a Titan’s carbon fibers and titanium construction that will eventually catastrophically fail when we need it most. We must trust the trustworthy and put our faith in the faithful. Ultimately, only God qualifies. Only God is fully reliable.

God’s Unfailing Faithfulness Across Generations

We can completely trust Him. A central truth of the Bible is that we can put our faith in God because He is faithful. We can trust Him because He is trustworthy.

His unfailing love is as vast as the heavens, and His faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds (Psalm 36:5). He is entirely faithful (Psalm 89:8).

That faithfulness continues to each generation (Psalm 100:5). He faithfully does what He says (1 Corinthians 1:9). Nothing is surer (2 Corinthians 1:18).

Submersibles implode. People and things we trust disappoint. Trusting a faithful God never does.

Photo: Image Creator (microsoft.com)