Dwelling in Trust

For Monday, September 11, 2006
Proverbs 3:29

Do not plan evil against your neighbor,
who dwells trustingly beside you.

What sort of a neighbor are you? Are you the sort who gets asked to watch a house or hold onto a set of extra keys, to collect the mail or watch after the pets, to keep an eye on child or borrow car? Are you a person who is happily lent tools or asked for advice, who is seen as friendly and easy to talk to, who cares for others and the well-being of the neighborhood?

Today's proverb seems to assume that the wise person will be just such a neighbor, the kind of individual within the community who fosters the trust of others and a sense of dwelling securely alongside his or her companions.

Yet, we are imperfect. Even the best of neighbors can disappoint or fail to come through. Trusts can be betrayed and neighborliness can turn to treachery. How many once cordial friends have ended up on opposite sides in small claims court? How often has security devolved into animosity?

In Jesus Christ we find that God has come to dwell among us as the best of neighbors and only with and in him can we finally dwell in full security and trust. Yet out of that trust, and by the power of his Spirit, we can more and more embody the sort of care and trustworthiness that this proverb invites.