Who Can I Trust

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bernard Madoff, a quiet force on Wall Street for decades, was arrested and charged on Thursday with allegedly running a $50 billion "Ponzi scheme" in what may rank among the biggest fraud cases ever. The former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market is best known as the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, the closely-held market-making firm he launched in 1960. But he also ran a hedge fund that U.S. prosecutors said racked up $50 billion of fraudulent losses.

Madoff told senior employees of his firm on Wednesday that "it's all just one big lie" and that it was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme," with estimated investor losses of about $50 billion, according to the U.S. Attorney's criminal complaint against him. A Ponzi scheme is a swindle offering unusually high returns, with early investors paid off with money from later investors.
The website also states that Madoff himself has "a personal interest in maintaining the unblemished record of value, fair-dealing, and high ethical standards that has always been the firm's hallmark."

Madoff, a self-made man who started his investment business with $5,000 earned from working as a lifeguard and installing refrigeration systems, lived a stone's throw away from the perfectly manicured lawns of the Palm Beach Country Club, the community's heart. The club has a joining fee of $300,000 and requires prospective members to provide a history of charitable giving. It was fertile terrain when hunting for clients. One such was Carl Shapiro, a textiles magnate whose son-in-law, Bob Jaffe, worked as a recruiter and gatekeeper for Madoff. When word of the accusations against Madoff broke, Jaffe called Shapiro and told him to turn on the news. He saw the man he had known for 48 years, and thought of as a son, leaving court after being indicted over what federal officials called "the world's largest Ponzi scheme". For Shapiro, who had invited Madoff to sit at the family table at his recent 95th birthday party, it was like "a knife in the heart" – not least because he had poured money into the fund in recent months, at Madoff's personal request. (James Quinn - London Telegraph)

Trust is defined as: the trait of believing in the honesty and reliability of others (Google online dictionary)

Relationships are critical to survival in society and in life. We need to feel secure that when we share things that are troubling to us or we reveal our deepest feelings, they will be held in confidence.

Strong relationships rely on the integrity and character of the other person or persons within the relationship. All lasting relationships are built on trust; the greater the trust the stronger the bond. Unfortunately we have all experienced the breaking of a confidence and the effect it has on that relationship.

Very few things in life are more disconcerting than having your trust compromised. We have all experienced the pain that comes with the knowledge that a person you trusted has shared information, that you thought was secure, with others.

Who can I trust?

We would like to think that if we just could find the right person; a person that loves and cares for us enough that they will never break a confidence. As a result, we would feel comfortable and secure enough to open our hearts and share our deepest secrets. Unfortunately I don’t believe you will find that person.

We will never find it in another human being but that does not mean perfect trust does not exist.
Psalms 40:4 says, How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood. (NASU)

In our deepest relationships we long for a place to share and receive wise council, comfort, acceptance, and to love and be loved in return. God is that place. So how do we approach God to develop the relational characteristics so important to us? Those relationships that once consummated will result in a deep and fulfilling bond.

1. We must live the will of God: be a person of honor, love, and fear

1 Peter 2:15-17 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king (those who have legal authority over you – my note). (NASU)

2. We must devour the word of God: memorize God’s word and live it in your life

Psalms 119:11I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (NIV)

1 John 1:7-8 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (NASU)

3. We must commune with God: talking to God is prayer

James 5:16 The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (NASU)

It is unbelievable that we have such a great God and yet his people will use Him only as a last resort. What are you waiting for? God is there for us, to love us, to fulfill our every need. Get right with him and then connect formally and informally each and every minute of every day. Though others may let you down; He will not disappoint you.

Trust:

You put your trust in the things of this world,
Working for a piece of the treasure.
In the day to day grind you’re just trying to stay
Ahead of the bills and the pressure.

The people around you are urging you on
They say their concern is your best.
But at the end of the day when you’ve given your all
You are no better off than the rest.

The problem is not your goals or your effort
The quandary is not outside but in
The power that leads you beyond life’s rewards
Is the hope that you find in Him.

With God as your guide and His Spirit within
Through what once was a baffling maze.
Life’s victories and heartaches all seem to blend
As you walk with Him pace for pace

- Bruce

Psalms 46:1 God is our refuge and strength (NASU)

When hope is gone

We are living in a time of great turmoil and change. Many people have lost everything including their hope. They have relied on the material things of this world to give them security now and in the future only to see their trust compromised by greed and avarice. Where will they turn for security? Will they turn to the banking system, the stock market, the mortgage market, corporations, and/or the government? These systems of man will not and cannot provide long-term stability and security.

We can only find lastly hope in a sustained relationship with God. Psalms 62:5-8 says, “My soul waits in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation,

My stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. (NASU)

At all times be proactive in your faith and relationship with God:

Trust in Him at all times. Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (NASU)

Pour out your heart before Him: Pray every day as Jeremiah prayed: Jeremiah 14:20-22 We know our wickedness, O Lord, the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You. Do not despise us, for Your own name's sake; do not disgrace the throne of Your glory; remember and do not annul Your covenant with us. Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, O Lord our God? Therefore we hope in You, For You are the one who has done all these things. (NASU)

God is a refuge for us: Psalms 2:11-12 gives us clear direction when it states, “Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (NASU)

In His commentary on Psalms 2:12 Adam Clark, the 18^th century Methodist commentator, assures us that, “He is only the inexorable Judge to them who harden their hearts in their iniquity, and will not come unto him that they may have life. But all they who trust in him-who repose all their trust and confidence in him as their atonement and as their Lord, shall be blessed with innumerable blessings.