– Psalm 118:8 –
“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”
The passage above is one of many in the scriptures, on the
subject of ‘TRUST’. This verse speaks of the wisdom in placing our
trust in the LORD, rather than man. Two
key words in this passage are ‘better’ and ‘than’ as they relate to trust. The verse does not explain some things about
trust, such as HOW or WHY trust should be “in the
LORD”, but, as with any subject, they can be determined through a study of both the
immediate context, as well as other relevant passages in the Bible. From the immediate context, we see that this
chapter is a psalm about the nature of the steadfast love of the Lord…it
endures ‘forever’. This ‘endurance’ of God’s steadfast love is
why it is ‘better’ (i.e. wise) to look to the Lord for deliverance in times of
distress. Let those who “fear the Lord”,
trust in Him for reasons consistent with His steadfast love and unique to their
relationship with God; namely, for their deliverance from Satan’s efforts to
sever that relationship. From the other
relevant passages on this matter of ‘trust’, we learn the ‘constant’ truths set
forth about how/why it is wise to “trust in the LORD”. The admonitions from a negative standpoint
are:
- Psalm 40:4 – How blessed is the man
who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
- Psalm 146:3 - Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
- Psalms 60:11 and 108:12 - “...vain is the salvation of man.”
- Isaiah 2:22, “Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?”
- Isaiah 31:1, 3 – Woe to those who
go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, and trust in chariots
because they are many and in horsemen because they are very
strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
nor seek the Lord…Now the Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses are flesh and
not spirit; so the Lord will stretch out His hand,
and he who helps will stumble and he who is
helped will fall, and all of them will come to an end
together.
- Isaiah 57:13 – “When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the
wind will carry all of them up, and a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in Me
will inherit the land and will possess My holy mountain.”
- Jeremiah 17:5, “Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is
the man who
trusts in man and
makes flesh his strength, whose heart
turns away from the Lord.”
When Hezekiah
was attacked by Sennacherib king of Assyria, he spoke to the people of Israel
about trust. He said, “Be strong and courageous, do not
fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde
that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with
him. With
him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our
battles. And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah
king of Judah.” (2 Chronicles
32:7-8)
ALL of God’s truth is not
confined to, or condensed in one passage; nor can truth be ascertained by
isolating one passage from other passages without regard to what is taught on
the same topic. This is why we need to
consult ALL that is revealed in the scriptures on a given topic rather than
draw our conclusions from a single passage.
“Rightly dividing” God’s word requires that we search out ALL of God’s
wisdom (2nd Timothy 2:15;
Acts 17:11; Psalm 119:160). As stated elsewhere in the psalms, we will find
that God’s words were spoken TO and FOR man, reflecting His steadfast love. (cf. Psalms 40:5; 92:5; 139:17; and 144:3;
Hebrews 2:6).
Two other eternal truths,
consistently taught in the scriptures on ‘trust’ is that:
1) all must exercise a choice as to whom or what we put
our confidence/trust in. That choice
defines whether or not we fear God more than man. The second is:
2)
doctrine directly
affects where we place our
trust. Again, Satan’s attack upon the hearer
of the message is to pervert the message.
He will therefore employ false messengers. This is why there is an abundance of warnings
in regard to “hearing”; and it is from these passages, we see the correlation
between trust and doctrine. Notice:
- Matthew 6:1 - “Beware of practicing
your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will
have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”
- Matthew
16:6 - “Watch and beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees
and Sadducees.”
- 1 Corinthians 10:12 – “…let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he
fall.”
This is why trust and
doctrine are inseparable. The Bible
states that doctrine is to be ‘sound’ (1st Timothy 1:10; 2nd
Timothy 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1). Sound
doctrine is characterized by “uncorruptness”, “gravity”, and “sincerity” (Titus
2:7, “In all things
shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity...”). It
is for these reasons that doctrine and trust are inseparable. Proper
trust is dependent upon accuracy of doctrine. Your trust will be as you were directed in
the message (Isa. 24:2; Hosea 4:9).
Notice the correlation of
‘trust’ and ‘doctrine’ to ‘salvation’ and ‘worship’. Do you ‘trust’ in the Lord? Many sermons close with the exhortation to
“trust” in the Lord. What is meant by
this exhortation and exactly HOW does man ‘trust’ in the Lord? The Bible is replete with the phrase “trust
in the Lord”. The life of those “in
Christ” is to reflect their continual trust in Him, and the sinner is exhorted
to ‘trust in the Lord” upon entering into fellowship with God through
Christ. The manner in which both ‘trust’
is similar and can easily be seen from the passages that mention ‘trusting in
the Lord’. Both are dependent upon doctrine that is ‘sound’. To those who loved “vain words” and who” sought after lies”, David admonished in Psa. 4:2, 5 to cease and, “Offer
the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.” We learn from this passage that, when
trusting in the Lord, there has to be a “putting off” and a “putting on”. The same is true of those who have answered
the call of the gospel (Col. 3:8-10),
The object of man’s trust
is bewrayed through speech and behavior (Matt.
26:73). Sacrifices ‘of
righteousness’ reflect that your trust is in Jehovah, for His righteousness has
always been declared thru His words to man (Deut.
6:24-25; Prov. 30:5-6). Today, His
righteousness is declared in the gospel (Romans
1:17). The object of your ‘trust’ is
also reflected thru your worship.
‘Acceptable’ worship must be “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24) in order for your trust to
be ‘in the Lord’. Any worship that is
NOT “in spirit and in truth”
reflects that your confidence is in man.
From Joshua’s words to the people of God in his day, we see a two-fold
necessity in regard to ‘trusting’ in the LORD”.
He said, “Now therefore fear the LORD, and
serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which
your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.”
(Josh 24:14) Notice
that there must not only be “serving”; but also a “putting away”. This necessitates making a choice (see v. 15, “choose ye this day, whom ye
will serve...”). This accords with
Jesus’ words in Matt. 6:24, “no man can serve two...”. Both are necessary to trusting ‘in the Lord’,
or the ‘trusting’ is only lip-service; which is condemned in the Bible (cf. Matt. 15:8-9).
As mentioned above,
doctrine directly affects trust. Doctrine
must be uncorrupt, grave, and sincere in order for the trust to be placed “in
the Lord”.
As pointed out earlier, to
‘trust in the LORD’ is set forth from a positive and a negative aspect in the
scriptures.
Our desire to have our
worship acceptable to God depends upon our attitude toward ‘true’ worship. This will reveal the object of our
trust. We see this from what is stated
in the psalms. David said, in Psa. 31:6, “I have hated them that
regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.” How are we to understand this ‘hate’? The Bible is its own best dictionary. Elsewhere, we find of ‘hate’ that it means to have no fellowship with
those who worship in idolatry.
Psa. 26:5 – I hate
the assembly of evildoers,
and I will not sit with the
wicked.
They are to be regarded as enemies.
Psa. 139:21-22 – Do I not hate
those who hate you, O Lord? And
do I not loathe
those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
How are we to understand
David’s hatred? As ill-will and malice;
purposing to take vengeance on them?
Again, note from these other passages in the Psalms for clarification:
Psa. 119:158 – I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your
commands.
Psa. 119:136 – My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.
Did not Jesus mention blessings upon those who ‘mourn’ about over the prevalence of sin (Matt.
5:4)?
Those who trust in idols were truly assessed by the prophet
Jonah. He stated in Jonah 2:8, “Those
who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast
love.”
Psa. 37:3 – Trust in the
LORD, and do good;
[The
absence of doing ‘good’, reflects a lack of trust in God; ‘good’ is defined by
God for us. For example, Psa. 37:27
teaches that to ‘do good’ is impossible without departing from evil; departing
from evil constitutes doing ‘good’. Rom.
1 and Matt. 19:16ff teach that doing ‘good’ was always defined as obedience to
what God commanded. Jesus taught that to
be ‘perfect’, we must take up our cross; “come and follow” Him. Accordingly, the N. T. epistles define ‘good’
as being “rich in good works”, “ready to distribute”, and “willing to
communicate” (1 Tim. 6:18; Heb. 13:16).
To fail to do this ‘good’, is to sin (James 4:17).
Prov. 3:5 – Trust in the
LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
[to
trust in your own wisdom is to fail to ‘trust in the Lord’] Prov. 28:26 calls such a person a ‘fool’.
Prov. 28:25 – He that is
of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD
shall be made fat.
[Greediness,
a hot-temper, and slothfulness are all behavioral characteristics of a person
who does not have his ‘trust’ in the Lord, but in himself] (cf. Prov.15:18;
13:4)
Prov. 29:25 – The fear of
man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
[Fearing
man more than the Lord is to fail to ‘trust in the Lord’] (See Matt. 10:28)
Psa. 37:5 – Commit thy way
unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass.
[There
can be no ‘trust in the Lord’, unless you commit your way unto HIM. Notice in the next passage how this
commitment is thru obedience to God’s word]
Psa. 18:30 – As for God, his
way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those
that trust in him.
[God
is synonymous with His word; to trust in God is to trust in His word]
Psa. 20:7 – Some trust in
chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our
God.
[Remembering
the name of the Lord is one and the same to ‘trust in His word’. Notice the next passage...]
Isa. 50:10 – Who is among
you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
[in] darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and
stay upon his God.
[To
fear is to trust; to trust is to obey...is teaching/doctrine a factor?]
Jer. 7:4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple
of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, [are] these.
[Reading
the entire chapter of Jeremiah 7, we find that to offer sacrifice, while
disobedient in daily living is to only lip-service and condemned]
Jer.28:15 – Then said the
prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath
not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.
[Read
the context here to see how/why Hananiah caused the people to trust in a lie; doing the opposite of this will cause people to trust in the Lord; WAS HIS TEACHING (DOCTRINE) A FACTOR?]
Jer. 29:31 – Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:
Jer. 29:31 – Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:
[Read
the text here to see how/why Shemaiah caused the people to trust in a lie; the
opposite of this will cause people to trust in the Lord; was his teaching
(doctrine) a factor?]
Jer. 39:18 – For I will
surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall
be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.
[Read
the context to see what/how ‘trust’ was put in the LORD; was teaching
(doctrine) a factor?]
Jer. 46:25 – The LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and
Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and [all]
them that trust in him
[How
was ‘trust’ in these false gods put? Was teaching/doctrine a factor?]
Phil. 2:19 – But I trust
in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of
good comfort, when I know your state.
[What
did Paul ‘trust in the Lord’ for in this passage? How would this be accomplished?]
Phil. 2:24 – But I trust
in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.
[What
did Paul ‘trust in the Lord’ for in this passage? How would this be accomplished?]
2/12/2013
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