Godliness and Trust

A person who trusts God is a person who can be trusted. Why? Because trust gives birth to trustworthiness. Think of an unreliable person to whom you would never loan a large sum of money. Is that person really a godly person? Can you regard an untrustworthy person as one who reflects God’s godliness?

The virtue of godliness is simply God-orientation. Yet we may orient ourselves toward God in many ways: by worshiping or adoring him, by thanking him, by praising him, by seeking his merciful forgiveness, and so on. Not the least of all these ways of spotlighting him in the darkness of a nearly godless world is a seemingly reckless abandonment to his supportive and protective love. This form of godliness is called trust.

Trustful reliance implies a conviction that God’s Spirit is dynamically at work within us, in the innermost depths of our beings, even when we feel bereft of his presence, with darkness in our minds and dryness in our prayers. It makes us aware that everything worthwhile in God’s kingdom is based on his promises, not on our feelings. It bespeaks total creatural dependence on the Creator, and hence is the one form of godliness that gives him a special divine thrill of appreciation for each trusting soul. The “God-thrill” triggered by our trust surpasses any known human experience--a unique divine reaction that he has revealed to various saints. Only in heaven will we have some grasp of how we affect God by a devout act of trust in him.

This excerpt is from the book Pathways of Trust, by John H. Hampsch,C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.