Customer Reviews

Can God Be Trusted?: Finding Faith in Troubled Times

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Can God be trusted? The question posed in the title of this book can be answered with one word, namely, "Yes." There is no attempt by Dr. Williams to arrive at this answer by inductive reasoning, building laboriously chapter by chapter to a climax, until at last we learn the outcome of his query. Instead, we know from the Preface, even before reading the beginning sentence in the first chapter, that Fr. Williams' trust in God and Church is an affirmation that cannot be shaken.

This book grows out of an assumption about its readers. The author assumes that his readers want to believe that God can be trusted. But research reveals that not everyone shares Fr. Williams' assumptions and convictions. Consequently, this book tells the story, many stories actually, about the ups and downs of trusting and distrusting God.

The volume is filled with real-life answers to the question, "Can God be trusted?" Real people, it seems, cannot give a simple "Yes" or "No" in response to this question. Their answers are much more nuanced, often complicated by distressing experiences in their lives. For example, thirty-year-old Chantel answered, "I wish God would explain himself a little better. People tell me he knows what he is doing, but that isn't so clear to me." Twenty-six-year-old Sebastian responded, "I doubt very much that God exists. If he did, the world would be a nicer place. When I look around me, I don't see the hand of a loving God but chaos and confusion." Forty-year-old Jocelyn replied, "In theory I trust in God, but I can't say it comes through to my actions, decisions, or stress management skills."

Fr. Williams confronts his readers' doubts with cheerful good will and persuasive writing. He never rebukes or reprimands his readers for their unbelief. But neither does he leave their doubts unchallenged.

The author assures his readers that God is up to the task of dealing with their doubts. He explains why we have trouble trusting. He tells us what we can and cannot expect from God. He makes plain why trust is so hard for some people and so easy for others.

Not surprisingly, Fr. Williams knows his Bible. Scriptures from the Old Testament and New Testament, but especially from the Psalms, provide reassurances in abundance that refute our uncertainties and encourage our trust. Happily, God's faithfulness does not depend on our own. "If we are faithless, he remains faithful--for he cannot deny himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). Has God abandoned you? Consider this. On the cross, Jesus cried, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" (Mark 15:34). Now erase that thought. Replace it with this. Jesus also said from the cross, "Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit" (Luke 23:46).

This is not a heavy book for seminarians. Neither is it a light book for personal devotions. It is a balanced book for people living in troubled times who want to be reassured that God can be trusted.

As you progress through the pages of this book, you may conclude that you trust God more than you realize. You may also find yourself identifying with one or two of the interviewees whose stories are spotlit in the book. For instance, I know exactly what Natalia, age 22, was thinking when she said, "For me, the hardest thing about trusting in God is letting go." Fifty years ago, when I was Natalia's age, I learned to let go of my ways and let God have his way. I had been a Christian for thirteen years. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior when I was nine. I was a baptized penitent believer. But my prayer was, "Lord, help my unbelief." The day that God answered that prayer was the day I let go and let Jesus be my Lord and Master as well as my Savior. Since that day, my trust in God has withstood all that time and circumstance could deliver. In my seventy-three years, I have lost my parents, my brother, my wife, and half of my meager wealth. But I have not lost my trust in God, my Creator, Defender, Protector, and Father about whom Fr. Williams writes with so much conviction.

My favorite chapter in this book is the 17th, "Becoming Poor in Spirit." Poverty of spirit is about letting go and abandoning ourselves totally to trust in God.

What's missing from this composition? As a Sunday school teacher, a single reading of this volume will not suffice. It is filled with contemporary stories that illustrate the power of Bible instructions and promises--stories that beg to be repeated and applied. Therefore, I wish the book had two indexes, a topical index and a textual index, to help me quickly relocate various ones of those insightful lessons. I would like to revisit Fr. Williams' illuminating conversations about trust with respect to James, Simon, Jeremy, Martin, Sheila, Greg, Raymond, Anne, Sebastian, Michael, Jocelyn, Caitlin, Michaila, Brian, Jamie, Aaron, Samantha, Alex, Elizabeth, Margaret, Marisol, Natalia, and others, ages 13-67.

Since this is a book of testimonies, let me add one more. If you had asked Becky at age 20 or 40 or 60, "Can God be trusted?" her reply would invariably have been to quote her favorite Bible passage, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5,6). "Trust" and "lean" both suggest the physical and spiritual experience of supporting yourself on someone in total reliance and commitment.

This book is a keeper.

This book was just what I was looking for. I have struggled with trust in God for years, and Father Williams has challenged me to rethink many of my earlier ideas about God and what to expect from him. I especially loved his chapters on spiritual poverty, balancing trust with personal responsibility, and readjusting our expectations to fit God's amazing promises. I believe he is exactly right when he says that we never expect too much from God; we always expect too little. This book is going to the top of my Christmas gift list---everyone needs it.

With a title like Can God Be Trusted? (FaithWords/Hachette), I imagined the content of Father Thomas Williams' book could be summed up in four words: Yes. So do it. The plain white cover of the hardcover volume doesn't didn't do much to convince me that the book was going to be anything more than a restatement of those four words for 206 long pages.

My first impressions were wrong. Williams, a professor of theology at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome and a Vatican analyst for CBS News, offers a gentle, accessible and thorough exploration of the nature of trust in this volume. Penned for a popular audience, Williams tackles topics including the downside of distrust, God's rivals for our trust, what to do when God lets you down, and God's trust in us. Williams explains, "...we are not called to diminish our desires, but to enlarge them. In the end, we need to be more audacious with God, not less. We need to think big, bigger than we ever have before. Strange as it may seem, we always expect too little of God, and never too much."

I struggle to trust God and other people. My once-childlike trust in God has been enclosed in thick layers of callouses in order to protect myself from further hurt. Williams' kind, encouraging pastoral voice and an approach that was both intelligent and simple had a healing effect on me as I read. Can God Be Trusted? is a very worthwhile read for anyone who is weary of the weight of their own callouses. Recommended.

A catchy title is a wonderful beginning for a book. This one is ideal. Don't we all wonder at one point or another in our lives if God can be trusted?

When I picked this book up and started reading it, I was fascinated by the author - an American priest who is a Vatican analyst for several news organizations. "He must have a lot to say that will be enlightening for me," I thought. Faith is an important part of my life. I am always anxious to understand new ways of looking at issues that impact our walking around lives, as opposed to theoretical comments that are like shibboleths having no practical application.

Can GOD be Trusted faithfully addresses all of the themes that would be expected to enable readers to reach their own conclusion. I assumed that the author would come to the conclusion that God can be trusted.

Father Williams begins with a framework for his discourse that is thought-provoking:

The one who expects nothing can never be let down. Hope and trust are scary things. We risk betrayal and disappointment. We risk abandonment and disillusion. It is much safer to hope for nothing, desire nothing, aspire to nothing

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To love is to expose yourself, make yourself vulnerable, give of yourself, set yourself up for a fall.

Isn't that the essence of belief in God, regardless of the religion or prophet that one follows? Hope, trust, faith, and love.

Following this framework, Father Williams addresses the flaws in self-sufficiency, subtraction theory (if you cannot trust anyone, only God is left), the nature of trust and faith, why trusting is so hard, pride, our feelings that God lets us down or does not hear our prayers, testing, impatience, forgiveness and redemption (e.g.: "When God forgives us, he remakes us. He not only glues us back together; he recasts and reforges us so that we truly made new"), and God as our friend.

This is a remarkably readable and though-provoking exposition of the element of faith. Regardless of one's religious beliefs, this is a joyful read. As I read, I kept pausing and thinking about the words and thoughts.

As the end of the book was in sight, I looked forward to Father Williams grounding his wonderful words and thoughts in a way that would help readers (and me) deal with the walk around world, not the abstractions of spirituality. I hoped for guidance for how to do deal with the questions of life: "my husband has lost his job and we have no savings"; "my mother is dying and she is my best friend"; "I am alone"; "I am guilty and I cannot face up to it"; "I am addicted"; and so on.

In the end, Can GOD be Trusted does address some degree of practicality, described as "spring cleaning" and "God or `Flesh'"? The essential message is that one needs to turn to God, and people can fail.

I loved reading Father Williams' exposition. I wish there were one more chapter to connect the exposition with real life on the street; to bring these wonderfully warm thoughts down to the ground for us walking on the earth people living ordinary lives.. Each of us experiences the emotions Father Williams addresses. We hope, trust, love, and have faith, at least we should. But who do we do it with? We do it with people or pets who can return the emotions. As Father Williams says, when we do so we walk out on a branch which could break, causing us hurt. Isn't that what God empowers us to do? To have faith to love and be loved, knowing that if we fall we always have His love to pick us up, dust us off, and send us off again. In this, I am reminded of the wonderfully charming story of Punchinello, the wooden boy with a poor paint job told so beautifully by Max Lucado.

I look forward to Father Williams' sequel, perhaps entitled "Living in God's Hands."

This book is a real gem. It truly helps one to understand Truth and serenity in life and beyond.

Father Williams is a priest and a Vatican analyst. In this book, he talks about the reasons that some people don't trust God because of several different reasons. This book has the potential to help those without faith begin a relationship with God.

I think this book will be most helpful to believers who are questioning the ways of the world.

This is a gently written book, that seeks to comfort and encourage the weary and troubled soul. Without appearing pompous or proud, the author starts not from an ivory-tower like arrogance, but as a fellow human person. Firm in his own faith, he carefully dislodges the impediments of faith, to clear the way toward trust in God.

Williams highlights 5 major competitors to trust in God. They are education, wealth, our social networks, our self-ingenuity, our ideologies. The book is filled with quotes and personal sharing from different people Williams encountered. They make the book very down-to-earth and personally relevant to the layperson. Simple, and devoid of theological jargon, it should provide the general reader an easy and comfortable read. The exhortation to faith is gently applied, leaving room for the reader to step back and reflect upon their own beliefs and doubts. It is not a book that argues on a blow by blow account, but one that appears to walk alongside the person struggling with trust. It should appeal widely to those finding the need to discover fresh faith in a troubled era. If you are looking for a less academic treatment of the topic of faith amid tough times, this is the book.

My main gripe with this book is that it gives a excessive weightage on the 'rightness' of humans over the 'rightness' of God. In other words, it practically assumes that the feelings of the respondents over their disappointments in God are 'correct' in the first place. I make a distinction between recognizing the sinfulness of men and the need to understand/tolerate our differences. Whatever it is, sin is not something to be downplayed. A major factor behind the problems of this world is the presence of sin itself, which is something that John Stackhouse's book of the same name zeroes in on. Stackhouse poignantly address the causes of sin, while Williams massages the peripheral effects of sin. So as you read this book (or both), remember that they are writing to quite different audiences.

[More detailed review is at yapdates dot blogspot dot com]

My Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

EXCELLENT BOOK . Given explanation why we can really trust HIM . Great answer for who is hurting and questioning , ''why me ''

Can God Be Trusted? deals with the question of whether or not we can trust God in today's troubled times. Father Williams discusses several reasons why people don't trust God today based on a survey he took. He gives us real life answers from real people who are facing many of the same issues we face today. He backs up his recommendations and suggestions with scripture verses.

Father Williams discusses the five obstacles we face in trusting God. These obstacles are our education, our wealth, our social networks, our self-ingenuity, and our ideologies. When he speaks to us through his book, he speaks to the layperson, not to a seminary student so the book is easy to understand and to follow.

I really enjoyed the chapter on whether or not sinners could trust God. He speaks about being let down by God and about feeling abandonned which is something I can relate to many days. I like the way that he explained that the devil is using this feeling to make us feel unworthy. I really like the statement "Sometimes we walk or even run away from God, yet all we need to do is turn around to find that he is still right there with us. We left him, but he refuses to leave us."

I recommend this book if your faith is faltering because of the troubled times we're in today. It's very comforting.

I just recently saw an interview with the author and was greatly encouraged by his words and his outlook, which, generally speaking I share. However, I was disturbed to read his first chapter in which he denigrates the virtue of self-sufficiency by confusing it with self-righteousness. The two are VERY different concepts which are mutually exclusive. The notion of self-sufficiency further be equated to radical individualism is also misleading. Self-sufficiency is not at odds with interdependence; in fact, self-sufficiency is a product of interdependence. The real dangers of self-righteousness which can develop from self-sufficiency are real. Aristotle in his discussions of virtue show that any virtue can become vicious if it become excessive or lacking in a persons life. That does not make the virtue wrong but highlights our flawed nature. Indeed, in the spiritual world, self-sufficiency is incongruent with a denial of God's providence. Ultimately, to deny the virtue of self-sufficiency is to bond each of us to indentured servitude and denies a person's free will: if we are NOT to be self-sufficient then we MUST be dependent on other people without qualification. This can easily lead to radical collectivism whereby a person, without productive participation can claim to be deserving of all they desire, materially. Even in terms of Salvation, we are dependent on God's grace, but it is participatory. The grace is always available but we must do our part.

Insofar as this book raised questions that people don't often think of this book is very valuable. However, I think that it is flawed in that it doesn't provide a fully accurate treatment of virtue and requires a little more critical thinking than I had expected for it to be effective.