In God we Trust

Have you ever wondered about that “In God we Trust” phrase that is on our US currency? 

I’ve always thought that a bit odd, particularly for a country that enthusiastically believes in separation of church and state. Well, I recently found out why that’s there: it turns out that’s actually our US national motto! Yes, you read that correctly: the US national motto is, “In God we Trust.” I was shocked too.

(And in case you’re wondering, in 1970, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the motto does not violate the First Amendment to the Constitution.)

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Focus on Politics

It’s been an interesting year politically. The four-year election cycle guaranteed that more attention in 2020 was going to be given to politics, but the global pandemic has multiplied that significantly beyond what we would have had otherwise. All eyes have been on the White House for months, and so much conversation in the media and in our homes has been focused on political problems and potential political solutions.

Now let me say from the beginning, that I very much love and value our nation and our government. As someone who has experienced living in a communist country (I lived in China for a year and I have been back a number of times since), I think I understand the freedom we cherish in this country better than most; I’ve seen what it’s like to live without it. I believe we have a form of government that is a gift and that the benefits we reap from that far exceed many other nations.

But that being said, when we fixate directly on something for so long, it’s only natural to begin to get over-invested in it. When something takes a high portion of our attention for too long, it begins to shape the way our thoughts themselves run. It turns out that whatever we give a lot of attention to, our mind continues to naturally revolve around when we’re not intentionally thinking about other things. (Neuroscientists phrase this principle as “neurons that fire together, wire together.”) In a time when the natural world has been looking to the government for solutions so intensely for so long, it's the natural course of things to begin to see the government as having solutions for everything.

And this, of course, is not true. Ultimately, the governments of the word have some power, but they cannot control everything that does or does not happen within their borders. 2020 has been proof of that!

Reclaiming our Attention

As we come through the home stretch of our election season, the political focus has spiked through the roof. The constant stream of advertisements, debates, and conversations mean that it can be difficult to escape politics for even a few hours in a row. I’m not finding that super healthy for me; I suspect it’s not really a good thing for most of us. Personally, I find myself feeling exhausted, anxious, and apprehensive about just about anything political and the future of our country. I want to, but the truth is, right now it feels hard to stand on, “in God we trust.”

But what if we were purposeful to begin to spend our time and attention in the order that we want our trust to line up? I’m sure we’d all say that we trust God first, and a distant second from God we have some trust in our political system. The problem is in the time budgeting:

I want my trust in God to be much, much greater than my trust in politics...

but I spend my attention and conversation much, much more on politics than I do on God.

As you can likely see, this is going to be a recipe for struggling with actually feeling the trust I want to feel. It’s not a matter of “I don’t really believe”, it’s a matter of “I’m spending my time in a counterproductive way.” And the cool thing is this: I find it’s much easier to redirect how I spend my time and attention and let the trust take care of itself than it is to try and summon up some extra trust or faith when it seems like trust is getting low.

So what if we chose to give ourselves a bit of a breather in this political season? Of course I’m not saying to be irresponsible or to blow off the responsibilities of citizenship - but I am saying that fulfilling those responsibilities probably doesn’t require the obsessive focus on politics that is swirling all around us right now. Do the research and participate in the way that is according to your conscience, then perhaps intentionally set politics down and focus on something else.

Better still, perhaps we could give some of the extra time and energy we’ve freed up to the Lord. Rebalance the equation to focus more attention on God and you may find that your trust follows naturally. Look at David’s words in Psalm 16:

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” Psalm 16:1–2

David was a man acquainted with the need to find faith. He had Saul chasing him around, trying to murder him for years. David knew what it was to need strength from God, and this is how he found it: he shifted his attention to God, expressing God’s goodness to him. David is essentially saying here, “God I’m going to trust in you...so I better get to lifting you up.” Shift how you spend the attention, and the trust follows.

Perhaps one of the silver linings of this year is that we can get really good at spending our attention in the ways that give us the outcomes we need. Without the needs of an extreme season like this, it’s easy to get lax, not really noticing how and where we spend our attention and what we’re reaping in turn. Not so in 2020! This year is giving us powerful, immediate feedback as to where our trust is building and where it’s depleting, and I want you to join me in being purposeful to spend that attention in a way where I can say with confidence, “in God I trust.” It turns out that not only is that what a citizen of heaven would do, but it’s living our national motto as well.