Conversation with a frog

This morning I was at the office early. It has been raining off and on for over a week, and along the back side of the office property there is a small wooded pond that forms after long rains. After enough consistent rain the frogs take over that small pond.

As I parked and walked in to the office this morning, as is my usual routine, I was listening to Albert Mohler's daily briefing when I once again hear the frogs. But my mind went in a different direction...

As a design engineer I often marvel at how effortlessly God made all things, not merely as chunks of rock and organic material, but unarguably beautiful systems. While trying to solve some days-long problem with a design, many times I have had to stare at a sunrise in dwarfed awe.

This morning was no different. I've got some problem I'm trying to solve [hopefully] today that has perplexed me for a couple of days. And these rain frogs are all croaking and chirping and groaning. There must be dozens of frogs making all sorts of sounds. Then it hit me- they are glorifying God. God made them to do what they are doing, and they are thus glorifying God by doing what they were made for.

The moment was overwhelming.

I belong to a good church, but we never such a joyful noise. I had to walk out to the edge of the pond and listen. At the edge of the pond the sound was almost deafening. There as a light rain still falling and in the distance thunder was rumbling. It was almost daybreak and though I wouldn't see it for the clouds, there was sure to be another beautiful sunrise. I went inside to get a cup of coffee, still thinking about the worship service I just witnessed.

What if the frogs could talk? What if God permitted a frog and I to speak for a few minutes? Then my mind was flooded with much darker thoughts.

Of course, if I asked one of the frogs why they are making such a noise, an intelligent frog would say "because we were made to do this." I would have to admit to the frog not only were they fulfilling the commands of their creator, but seemed to be enjoying themselves (salute to John Piper). I imagine that even a most humble frog would have to agree they are doing a perfect job. 

An inquisitive frog might reply: "Can you show me what the creator made you to do? Can you take me to a group of your kind and let me see what the creator made you to do? You seem much bigger and more sophisticated."

I teared up.

In my imagined conversation with one of God's most basic creatures, I would have to admit we aren't close to the creator. That hasn't always been the case. We were, for a brief period very long ago, very close. But we stopped doing what the creator made us for. We abandoned Him.

"Abandoned? We never imagined the thought. Aren't you supposed to do what the creator made you for?", my reptilian friend may ask. I would have to agree in defeat that he is correct, we are supposed to.

Probing, the frog may ask, "Perhaps, because your species is more intelligent, you found something better." WAIT. The frog would not ask such a question- "did we find something better." The very question is laden with sin. It is full of betrayal and deceit. How would the frog ever imagine the creature should overrule its creator?

"Then what does your species do?" I would have to change the subject. What could I claim as ours? War? Murder? Deceit? Did we ever do anything good outside His power?

With the clock winding down to zero, an observant frog would ask, "What are those things covering your body?" It would take me a minute to realize he's asking about my cloths. This small frog, in all its glory, would never think of clothing. I would have to reply as croaks began to reclaim the frogs articulations, our cloths originally came from animals, because in our sophistication, we needed a savior.

The public trust

Even as I write this, its horrifying to think of how difficult it is to be the same person at church that I am at work.  Attitudes and behaviors that are lucrative at work (Proverbs 11:1) are often shunned at church- and rightly so.  Worse, what is expedient (1 Cor 10:13) at church is often shunned at work.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how easily those two worlds embarrass each other.  I cringe when I stand in the church and look at my behavior at work.  I laugh too easily at jokes that I shouldn’t.  I find myself considering business choices that would help me to increase my profits at the expense of blurring the lines of honesty (I’ll say more about THAT in a moment).  And the list goes on.  Oh wretched man that I am!

And I must mention briefly the view from the other direction.  When I sit in my office and look at church I see so many substitutions!  The Great Commission (“as you go, make disciples”) is reduced to a sales tool to build the membership roles.  Men and women are placed in leadership roles in many churches simply because they are successful in the business world, rather than because they are rich in faith.  Entertaining music replaces genuine worship (which goes far beyond singing!).  Strong personalities in leadership positions become the prime movers instead of the Spirit of God.

However, the reason I’m writing this is because of what I’ve discovered about the nature of trust.  If you think about it, when a person is considered trustworthy, what is really being said is that person holds truth in high regard.  If asked to recount a recent event, they recount the event that actually happened.  Upon accepting a task to complete, they will move heaven and earth if necessary to complete it because they have given the impression that, in truth, it will be done.  A trustworthy person is a faithful steward of Truth in all its forms.

Its also valuable to think in the opposite direction.  When a person is considered un-trustworthy, what is really being said is that person holds something other than truth in highest regard.  Bear in mind, its not that they don’t believe in truth.  They do.  But when the chips are down, they will forsake truth for what ever they really hold dearest- be it their reputation, money, power, etc.

I’ve often made the mistake of thinking that truth is fragile because it can be subverted so easily by untrustworthy people for long periods of time.  But never doubt that truth, or rather Truth, will always win.  The fool who leaps from a tall building may be permitted to believe- for a short time- that he actually is flying.  But in a frightful an sudden manner, the truth will intrude.

Now here’s where things get interesting. Any time one person entrusts another, they are in reality putting something valuable into the hands of another.  And by doing so they put that valued thing at risk.  For example, when depositing a check into the bank, a thing valued (money) is being placed at risk into the hands of another (the bank).  But the examples are endless- confiding a secret with another, giving ones hand in marriage, or simply accepting a check.  Our lives are dramatically affected by how trustworthy those are around us, and how trustworthy each of us are.

But I want to look at one more example to see how insidious it is to be almost completely trustworthy.  Suppose a small group of people are shipwrecked on a deserted island.  However, many of the supplies and food stores were saved.  Among the survivors, one is selected to be steward of the food and supplies while the others go out to find more food, attempt to be rescued, etc.  The things valued, food and supplies of the whole party, are placed at risk into the hands of another.  And suppose that the steward agrees to take on the task and vouches that he will keep and distribute the stores as agreed to by the others.

And let me say it this way- the steward in essence has said ‘in truth, I will keep the stores’. Suppose further that for several weeks he goes on to manage the stores very well.  And as a result, his fellow survivors have his trust.

But then secretly he begins to pilfer the food.  We all know how it works.  First its an extra helping of desert.  Then its extra snacks. And before long, the food has run out long before it should have.

Here’s my point.  Once trust has been gained and built up, it can be secretly sold off a piece at the time for great temporary gain.  Two deserts instead of one is a great gain when marooned.

Con artists, devisers of Ponzi schemes, unfaithful spouses, corrupt politicians, counterfeiters, embezzlers, false teachers, traitors and wolves in sheep’s clothing are all terrible examples of those who publicly fain to be trustworthy, but in secret bite off and devour pieces of that trust for their own pleasure.

Here’s one last example.  Romans 1:18 begins that terrible description of the downward death spiral that sin brings to humanity.  Notice first, they suppressed the truth in unrighteousness.  Or said another way, they have been clearly entrusted with the Truth.  The word for translated “evident” in the NASB, or “manifest” in the KJV is from the Greek term φανερός, or phaneros, meaning “to make apparent, manifest”.  Its from a root of this word we get our word photon.  By verse 25, they are outright exchanging the truth of God for a lie.

So the question to ponder is this.  In how many ways do you and I secretly sell off bits of the trust others have put into us?