Trust and Betrayal

There are two major news items in the UK this past week. The arrest of two young women accused of carrying $2 million worth of cocaine out of Peru, and a young man who was questioned under terrorism legislation because the security authorities suspected him of carrying material which was a threat to national security in the USA and UK. In his interview, the young man’s defence was that he ‘trusted’ his partner completely, and he wouldn’t do anything bad, would he? It should be said that his partner is a security correspondent with a national UK newspaper, and is embroiled in the massive data leak scandal by Edward Snowden.

Humanly speaking there is a very fine line between trust and betrayal. Trust changes to betrayal in ordinary circumstances, and most of us have seen it or even experienced it, and it is not a good feeling. The two recent articles in the media take betrayal to a very high level where the price is either personal freedom, or your integrity. The worst example of betrayal in the Bible must surely be Judas, who not only knowingly went against the teachings of his master Jesus, but who actively betrayed his fellow disciples. They had a massive amount of trust in him, even to the point of allowing him to look after the finances of their little group.

Call me an old cynic (ok not so fast!) or a realist, but I don’t really mind that someone who is suspected of carrying information which is helpful to a foreign power being questioned for 9 hours, and his laptop data being investigated. He was inconvenienced. Oh diddums what a shame. As for the two young women who were carrying 11 kilo of cocaine, their story has more holes than a kitchen sieve, but what have they got to lose by pleading not guilty, and hoping a fast talking lawyer can do something, anything, to find a point of law to get them off? The common factor is that these are extreme examples of trust being placed in the wrong people, and it turning to betrayal on a grand scale. So who should you and I trust? The only one who is 100% trustworthy, and who will never let you down: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5, and how about: One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24, and if you need more there’s: I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever. Psalm 52:8