Sometimes we walk so close to the edge don't we? From the day children are born we can see them pushing the boudaries, testing what can and can't be done. A two year old jumping off the back of the settee is finding out how far they can fall without hurting themselves, a five year old looking around cautiously as they snatch a toy from their friend's hand finding out what the consequences of malice will be, a 16 year old finding out how drunk they can get before they damage themselves, a 20 year old finding out how many illegal activities they can get involved in before anyone cares, an 80 year old telling stories from their past finding out how many times they can offer wise advice before they're shipped off to a nursing home.
Do we have to go to the edge before we learn that it can't be done? By modern standards you'd think there was no other way than falling straight off the cliff and hoping to survive the fall, perhaps a random do gooder or a government agency somewhere on the way to break your fall.
Psychology likes to call this 'availability heuristic' - we make judgements according to what we know, and obviously don't consider the information we don't know.
Someone recently told me that they thought that the 'availability heuristic' of Biblical writers was so limited that, had they written the Bible in the 21st century they would have experienced the benefits of plurality , polytheism and would have seen science disprove God and would subsequentley not have written the parts of the Bible that point to one true God (that would be the WHOLE Bible).
I have two points here.
1) considering their availability heuristic was so limited; no telescopes, no ultrasound scans, no well developed theories of psychology - they got A LOT right.
Isaiah 40:22 says God sits upon the circle of the earth. This was when people thought the world was flat.
Job 26:7 God hangs the earth on nothing. This was before they'd gone beyond the atmosphere and discovered the lower levels of gravity in space.
Ecclesiastes 1:7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. This was before they'd worked out the water cycle.
Ecclesiastes 1:6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. Wind circuits, this was before the Met Office!
I could go on and on... read the Bible for yourself to find out more.
2) Who's to say our availability heurisitc is complete? Maybe we've digressed in our understanding or taken the wrong direction with our investigations. Maybe one day the one true God of the Bible will come down from Heaven to judge people according to His righteous law and our availability heuristic will explode with information! We will suddenly realise that we were not taking into account our confirmation bias (human beings' natural tendency to think that their own opinions are right and only notice information that confirms their opinion.).
There is an incredible thing that can save us from that terrifying fall over the brink: it's called trust and it goes beyond our own knowledge.
For the 2 year old about to jump off the settee, they should be able to trust the adult that tells them 'don't do that, you could hurt yourself'
For the 5 year old snatching their friend's toy, they should be able to trust that they will receive reasonable consequences for their bad behaviour.
For the 16 year old going drinking they should be able to trust people older and wiser when they say the risks aren't worth the brief moments of numbness from life's pain.
For the 20 year old who's involved in criminal activity, they should be able to trust that someone cares about the honesty and integrity of their character.
For the 80 year old they should be able to trust that their life's experiences will be valued by future generations.
Would this kind of trust not hold everyone more accountable for their actions? Would this kind of trust not keep so many people from toppling over the brink of self destruction? Wouldn't this remove the pressure from the fragile, hurting person who's wondering if anyone would miss them if they weren't around any more?
For someone hurting, feeling rejected, simply being able to trust that someone would ache if they died - could it keep them from going over the edge from where they can't return.
And who can they trust?
The first and MOST important trust is in God Himself. Trusting that His word is true, trusting that He gave Himself entirely out of love for you, trusting that He will give your reasonable consequences for your behaviour according to His holy standards.
But it doesn't stop there. Where are God's ambassadors? The people who God speaks through, the signposts to Christ. Can you be trusted?
If your children, your friends, your family can trust you; you could be the one to reassure them and bring them back from the edge of unbelief - when they're about to stop believing that there's justice in the world, that they're worth anything, that good decisions are worth making.
Does your yes mean yes, and your no mean no?
Do you speak the truth?
Do you go out of your way to prove that you're trust worthy?
In the little things and the big things. Day by day, the hard work of building up trust by stopping yourself from making momentary promises, carrying out a difficult commitment, writing the letter you said you'd write, visiting the person you said you'd visit, giving your child time out for as long as you said you would, giving your child the attention you promised you'd give them when you'd finished being busy; it might pay off one day.
One day when you have to tell some one that life's worth living, would they be able to trust you?
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