Katniss has trust issues. Do you?

In The Hunger Games, the Capital rules the Twelve Districts with an iron fist. As punishment for their uprising seventy-four years earlier, every year each district must offer up two teens to fight in the annual Hunger Games. The teens fight to the death; only one emerges alive. Last year, Katniss Everdeen volunteered to go to the Hunger Games in place of her sister. Through a combination of tenacity, luck, and trickery, both Katniss and the young man from her same district, Peeta, survived as victors. The sequel Catching Fire picks up immediately after the first book, as both Katness and Peeta pick up the pieces of their lives, having survived the horrific Hunger Games. 

Katniss Everdeen has trust issues. It is difficult to tell at what point her ability to trust was damaged. Was it when her father was killed in a mining accident? When her mother “detached” from life for a time after the mining accident, leaving Katniss to care for the family alone? Or does life as a citizen of Panem District 12 systematically dismantle a person’s ability to trust?

Whatever the case, Katniss is more likely to suspect even those closest to her of selfish motivation than she is to believe that they genuinely care for her. Though he puts in great effort to equip her for success in the Hunger Games – and beyond – Katniss is always one breath away from believing Haymitch Abernathy is secretly against her. Even when he foregoes the opportunity to kill her and instead helps her survive, Katniss is still convinced that Finnick Odair is going to be her rival. And although time and again Peeta selflessly risks everything to care for her, Katniss still wrestles with the notion that he could possibly love her.

Trust issues.

Yet, she is not incapable of trust. It isn’t as though she has lost the ability to believe that anyone is trustworthy. For instance, she sees no guile in her sister, and though she may not rely on Prim, she believes in Prim’s love for her. She confides in Cinna and never feels wariness or discomfort around him. And Gale, her best friend… she would trust him with her life.

I don’t know exactly what separates those she trusts from those she does not. I suspect it has to do with the fact that Cinna, Prim, and Gale don’t really ask anything of her in return for their love. They just give. The others – at least in her mind – have other motives. But she eventually comes to trust them because of their relentless pursuit of her safety and well-being. Their commitment to her overwhelms her reluctance to trust.

Do you have trust issues? Have you been burned before, and aren’t sure you can trust someone again? Are you naturally suspicious of those who say they want to do you good?

Of course, we really can’t get very far in life without trust. We have to trust that other drivers on the road are going to follow the rules. We have to trust that the checker at the supermarket is going to give us the correct change. We have to trust that the doctor we see is going to do his best to provide us with good care. Even the most untrusting of us cannot get by in life without any trust at all.

Let’s take that a step farther. We can’t get anywhere in eternal life without trust. Not trust in the mundane things I mentioned above, but trust in the only one who can promise us life after death. But does that seem hard at times? Do you, like Katniss, sometimes find yourself wondering if God is against you? Wondering if he’s actually out to get you? Wondering how he could possibly love you?
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I have trust issues. I serve in the public ministry, so that’s not supposed to happen to me, right? Oh, but it does. There are plenty of days I struggle with trusting that God has my back. “Lord, why don’t they listen to me? Why don’t they cooperate? Am I not doing this the way you want me to? Am I just the wrong person for the job? Did you set me up to fail?”

The prophet Elijah had similar feelings. Having just proven God’s power on Mount Carmel and put hundreds of false prophets to death, he was threatened by a wicked queen. His response was to run away, get depressed, and question whether or not God had left him all alone with no one who cared to hear his message.

Trust issues.

What was God’s response to Elijah? “Get up, stop whining, and do what I tell you to do? I have more important things to do than listen to you cry!” No. He reassured him. He showed him his greatness and power, and also his gentleness, he told Elijah he wasn’t alone. Then he gave him a job to do that related to the problem – he sent him to anoint new kings who would overthrow the bad one. He met Elijah’s lack of trust with love.

I can say with confidence that God has done the same for me. I’ve been reminded again and again that the work that I do is worthwhile, even when I don’t see it. But more importantly, I’ve been reminded that the work I do isn’t really my work anyway – it is God’s. He creates the opportunities, he handles the results. My only task is to faithfully proclaim what has been given me, that Jesus has already done all that needs to be done. Salvation is accomplished. Sin and death are defeated. All that’s left is to let people know.

Are you struggling to trust God? Try asking yourself this question: How has God proven himself trustworthy? As you question God, see him as he gives up his throne of glory, makes himself dependent on his own creation, allows himself to be beaten, tortured, and killed, and take on the entire punishment of hell. Does it seem like those are the acts of someone we can trust? Hasn’t he proven himself trustworthy? How many other ways has he shown you that he is there for you, even amidst the difficulties of life?

“What, then, shall we say in response to all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his only Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32) Yes, God has proven himself trustworthy. You can trust him. He is for you. He does love you.

Back to Katniss. Her story is nothing if not a big illustration of the question, “How do you know who to trust?” Katniss learns that trust is proven in the actions of those who are truly trustworthy. Eventually she comes around to putting a lot of trust in people she wasn’t so sure about. She doesn’t do so because of some social rule that says she should just trust people just because. She doesn’t do so because those people just seem so genuine and sincere, despite their actions. She does so because they prove they are trustworthy.

This draws out of Katniss the desire to live up to that kind of trustworthiness. She wants to fight for them, as they have fought for her. Trust has that effect on people.