God is trustworthy!
The Psalm for today is the focus for reflection on this key component of our faith. The selection begins with the response “the Lord hears the cry of the poor,” which also follows each stanza. To me there seem to be two messages about trust here that are worth thinking about. One is about the faithfulness of those who trust and call upon God. The other is about the faithfulness of God to deliver us. God is trustworthy! When we trust in God, that is when our faith is strongest. The fruits of that trust are obedience and repentance. The blessings of that trust are God’s deliverance, justice, and saving grace.
But why the continual reference to the “cry of the poor” when considering our relationship of trust with God? Perhaps thinking of ourselves as poor, even if we aren’t materially poor, is a good way to place ourselves in an attitude of obedience and repentance. It takes trust on our part to recognize that we need God. A lot of people don’t trust God because they don’t think they need God. But no matter who we are, we are without our own self-sufficiency and in need of God’s benevolence…..not just to meet our material needs, but our spiritual needs. We are spiritually poorly clothed, homeless, and hungry in the eyes of God when we desperately seek refuge in the Lord for our troubles…and we all have plenty of troubles. But the Lord hears us out of that poverty. We are distressed by the evil that surrounds us when we cry out to the Lord to save us. And the Lord hears us and rescues us from weakness. And the greatest poverty we experience is when we are lost, alone and brokenhearted in this world. Our spirits are so easily crushed to emptiness. But the Lord comes to us and delivers us from this poverty of spirit. The Psalm response today assures us that we can trust that the Lord hears the cry of the poor….we poor things….lost, alone, empty, guilty, frightened, brokenhearted, and in so many ways, in dire distress. But in all of these instances of our poverty, God is trustworthy.
As people of God we should pray with gratitude often each day, “God is trustworthy.”
Barbara Dilly
I came to Creighton in 2000 and retired in 2020. My twenty years of teaching, research and service in the Jesuit tradition enhanced my own life. It was an exciting time of celebration. I loved teaching and interacting with Creighton students because they responded so eagerly to the Ignatian pedagogical emphasis on the development of the whole person. It is this spirit of whole person development and celebration of life that I hope to infuse in my reflection writings.
My academic background is eclectic, preparing me well for the Liberal Arts academic environment at Creighton. I earned my BA in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA in 1988 and my Ph.D. in Comparative Cultures from the University of California, Irvine in 1994. My research focused on rural communities in the American Midwest, Latin America, and Australia. I taught Environmental Anthropology, Qualitative Research Methods, Social and Cultural Theory, and Food Studies courses.
I retired to Shell Rock, a small rural community in Northeast Iowa where I enjoy gardening, cooking, quilting, driving my 65 Impala convertible an my 49 Willys Jeepster. I have lots of fun playing my guitars with friends from the Cedar Valley Acoustic Guitar Association. But most importantly, I am still working to make my community and rural America a better place. I host a community quilt studio and serve on the Mission Board of my church. I also serve as the Climate Committee Chair and on the Executive Board of the Center for Rural Affairs.
