I trust you as far as I can throw you, and that’s not very far. How about “trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair?” There are many ways in which we trust different people with different things. For example, I can trust a 9-year-old to vacuum the house and make the bed, but I wouldn’t trust him to cook me dinner or drive me to a doctor's appointment. Chapter 40 of Jeremiah is full of trust and distrust between 5 men: Jeremiah, Nebuzaradan, Gedaliah, Johanan, and Ishmael. Jeremiah sets a great example of who and why we can trust certain people to a certain extent. The obvious is that there is full trust in God, and that is something we all should desire. I think his trust in God gives him great insight into who or how much trust he can put into someone that he is acquainted with. This is why this prophet of God puts some trust in the enemy and Gedaliah, the newly appointed Governor of Mizpah, which is located in Judah. Jeremiah went to be with Gedaliah in Mizpah probably because Gedaliah’s father, Ahikam, was supportive of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 26:24). He trusted Nebuzaradan, the Captain of the guard of Nebuchadnezzar, to lead him in the direction of safety, whether it was to Gedaliah or Babylon in Jeremiah 40:1-6, because Jeremiah had complete trust in God knowing what God told him when the enemy arrived in Jeremiah 15:11 and Jeremiah 38:14-28. Jeremiah's trust in someone is different than the other men who may have more of a worldview on trust. Reading the later part of chapter 40, there is no shortage of drama between some of the Jewish captains and Gedaliah. In verses 7-12, there’s a level of trust in the enemy that some are for and some are opposed. Gedaliah and Johanan are putting some trust in the enemy and starting to work on rebuilding their city back to normal while under the control of the Chaldeans. While they both have an agreeance on the enemy, Gedaliah has a trust issue with Johanan when Johanan goes to him concerning what he has heard about Ishmael’s plot to kill Gedaliah, in verses 14-16. It’s unfortunate for Gedaliah that he believes Ishmael will not go through with this conspiracy that Johanan has told him. Spoiler alert! We will see that Ishmael does kill Gedaliah. The reason for Ishmael's lack of trust in the Chaldeans and his newly appointed Governor is his lack of trust in God. It’s because of those that trust in themselves that these things come to be. Ishmael believed in his own heart what he was doing was right, just as Gedaliah did when he ignored Johanan’s warning. This is why we shouldn’t be ignorant in trusting God. When we put our complete trust in God and God alone, we can have complete comfort in our decisions, as Jeremiah did, no matter what the circumstances are. Because Jeremiah trusted in God, he isn’t a part of this drama between too much trust in himself or others. We are walking a tightrope between two skyscrapers when dealing with trust. There is always a fine line to balance. If you keep God at the center of this balancing act, you can’t fall. Prov 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.” However, if you put too much trust in yourself, a sinner, or that person in your life, who is also a sinner, you will end up having a fall of regrets. Jere 17:5 says “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.” If our walk with God is in line with that of Jeremiah, we can make wise decisions on who we can trust and to what extent we can trust that specific person.

“My hope lives not because I am not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that being unholy, HE is my righteousness. My faith rests not upon what I am or shall be or feel or know, but in what Christ is, in what He has done, and in what He is now doing for me. Hallelujah” -Charles Spurgeon