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 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.
(Note: This review copy was provided me by the publisher.)
