voqmoH!

'ach the joH ghaH voqmoH, 'Iv DichDaq establish SoH, je guard SoH vo' the mIghtaHghach wa'. 1Thes 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and guard you from the evil one.

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At my darkest moments I need words like these from Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians - the reminder that, whatever else fails, we CAN trust the Lord. Paul reminds us that God is voqmoH - faithful. The Klingon word here is literally "cause to trust." Paul shares his confidence that this Lord who will keep us from evil.

There is no doubt that Klingons understand the virtues of faithfulness and trustworthiness. You can hear some of that regard for trust in the cynical proverbs that use the word voq, to trust:

yIvoq 'ach lojmItmey yISam. Trust, but locate the doors.
yIvoq 'ach yI'ol. Trust, but verify.


On the positive side, you hear the same word in this admonition to self-reliance:

DujlIj yIvoq. Trust your instincts.

Now it's interesting that the word "Duj," instincts, also means "ship" - so rather than merely advising self-reliance, perhaps since this Klingon adage can be read as "trust your ship," that is, depend on others in our company. And Paul is pointing us to the most trustworthy companion of all.

'ach the joH ghaH voqmoH, 'Iv DichDaq establish SoH, je guard SoH vo' the mIghtaHghach wa'. 1Thes 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and guard you from the evil one.

The word here for faithful is the Greek word pistis, used over 60 times in the Bible and conveys the idea of something that is objectively trustworthy and is translated in forms of believe, faithful, sure, or true. Pistis comes from the word peitho, to convince.

Paul wants us to be assured, be convinced of God's reliability - one writer says about this:

Though men cannot be trusted, God is faithful to his promises and his purposes. He may always be confided in; and when men are unbelieving, perverse, unkind, and disposed to do us wrong, we may go to him, and we shall always find in him one in whom we may confide. (Barnes)

This is not a simplistic vision of the world. Paul was not saying that the Lord would make life easy, or even safe at all times - but that we will be guarded from evil. Despite the travails Paul endured as he travelled spreading the word of Christ, he could still declare with confidence that God was faithful.

Hundreds of years before Paul's time, following the fall of Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah wrote of that devastaion in his book of Lamentations. Yet, in the midst of the despair, he too expressed confidence in God saying:

It is of the LORD's loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn't fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lam 3:22,23

Every summer we plant morning glories, and by this time of year the lamppost on the street is consumed by them - you can barely see it. Every morning (until the first cold weather takes its toll) those delicate flowers unfurl, reminding me of God's unfailing compassion and I think again, "They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

'ach the joH ghaH voqmoH, 'Iv DichDaq establish SoH, je guard SoH vo' the mIghtaHghach wa'. 1Thes 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and guard you from the evil one.