What does the Bible say about trust?

It is only normal and right that by Him we should trust this living God, who has both given his Son, and has raised Him up from the dead, giving the supreme glory to Him who deserves it. For He is the very manifestation of' the heart of God, and by Him faith and hope in God are brought into fullest reality. Faith is present confidence of heart in His faithfulness. Hope is the precious expectation of future glory in His presence.

The trust and boldness that faith in God and His word gives. "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence;" "The Lord shall be thy confidence." Prov. 3:26; Prov. 14:26. "We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our 'assurance' firm unto the end." Heb. 3:14. In contrast to this the 'fearful' are classed with the 'unbelieving.' Rev. 21:8.

These then do not forget the public blessings of the nation, but there is also the individual saint's walk, staying upon God, caring for His glory, Who, on His part, keeps the soul in perfect peace; the mind is stayed upon God Himself. For no matter what the blessings be, if we have not God Himself as the object of our hearts, they are sure to be misused; therefore it is said, "because he trusts in thee." It is not merely the perception of the goodness of God and of the wonders He had wrought for them. Now they know Himself, and trust Himself, and this is a very real thing for our souls - the personal knowledge of God and trust in God. Need it be said that God looks for it now in a still more intimate way than even then? Yet all that ever has been done on the face of the earth will have been outwardly eclipsed with but one exception (and this exception is Christ, to say nothing of His body the church). Nothing can surpass the last Adam; nothing compare with Christ's cross, unless it be Himself; and both will be our portion, of which we will joy and boast even in glory.

At all times, and under all circumstances, it is good to trust God. Ever since the fall, it has been the tendency of flesh to plan and provide for itself in utter independence of God. This is the root cause of the misery of which the earth is full. It is the beginning of good things when a man's pride and self-will become broken down, and he turns to God in humble penitence, pleading for salvation the Saviour's worthy name and His atoning blood. Such faith is blessed immediately, and for ever. But this step, supremely important though it be, is only an initial one. It is the introduction into a life of faith, every step of which should be marked by simple confidence in God. Let Him delay to answer prayer, if it so please Him, still faith perseveres, knowing assuredly that infinite power and love will never suffer a single trusting soul to be overwhelmed. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" (Ps. 30:5).

But, together with all this, a piece of defensive armour is needed over all the rest, that we may be able to stand in spite of all the wiles of the enemy — an armour, however, which is practically maintained in its soundness by the use of the preceding ones, so that, if the latter is essential, the others have the first place in practice. This is the shield, faith; that is to say, full and entire trust in God, the consciousness of grace and of His favour maintained in the heart. Here faith is not simply the reception of God's testimony (although it is founded on that testimony), but the present assurance of the heart with regard to that which God is for us, founded, as we have just said, on the testimony which He has given of Himself — trust in His love and in His faithfulness, as well as in His power. "If our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God." The work of the Spirit in us is to inspire this confidence. When it exists, all the attacks of the enemy, who seeks to make us believe that the goodness of God is not so sure all his efforts to destroy or to weaken in our hearts this confidence in God and to hide Him from us, prove fruitless. His arrows fall to the ground without reaching us. We stand fast in the consciousness that God is for us: our communion is not interrupted. The fiery darts of the enemy are not the desires of the flesh, but spiritual attacks.

89 But to dare obey God in this world there must be confidence in God. This is the second trial the Lord undergoes for us. "If thou art Son of God, cast thyself down." Try if God will be faithful to His promise (Ps. 91). This too was just out of the path of obedience. In this path He could always count upon God; but to put God to the proof to see if He would be faithful is not to confide in Him as assuredly such. This is what is meant by the expression "tempting God," and not, to go too far in confiding in Him (Exod. 17:7). The confidence is perfect like the obedience. He waits on Jehovah. Sure that He will be faithful, that He is so always, He has but to follow the path of obedience and to depend on Him. His word will direct His steps and His thoughts, and will be accomplished in His promises. Such are the two elements of the life of the new man, of the life of Christ in us - obedience, and dependence. Christ was perfect in both, in an obedience which had the word, the will, of God, as the source of His activity, not simply as its rule. When Satan presents the word falsely as a snare, the word suffices as a perfect answer to conduct the steps and the thoughts of man.

Well, we would not compare one text with another where all are from God’s Word, and the expression of His people’s confidence in Him, and as such comforting. There is the infirmity of human nature, and in this our great High Priest has sympathy, and no one need chide himself or herself if a certain amount of fear and apprehension possess the heart during those times of stress, if only in the fear there is a turning to the Lord to find a refuge in Him. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.” Happy man, happy woman, who has this experience; happier still if this leads to a deeper acquaintance with God so that in quiet confidence in Him they can really say, “I will trust and not be afraid.” For let us remember that it is also written, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee.” And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will surely garrison that heart and mind that is careful for nothing, but which in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving makes its requests known to God (Phil. 4:6-7).

Verses 5 and 6 were deeply impressed on the writer at an early age, and have no doubt spoken seriously to many others before and since that time. There are many things in which our understanding is extremely faulty, and if we depend on it, we shall be badly misled. the only safe alternative is to trust in the Lord with all our heart. that is, fully and without reserve. He will certainly not deceive us, nor is there any possibility of His making a mistake.

The faithfulness of God! What a glorious fact this is, and how little have we grasped it. He must ever be faithful to all that He is, and to all that He has said. He cannot deny Himself. nor can He deny the one who stakes everything upon Him and the truth of His Word. Therefore it is that "the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings." as the psalm says. If our souls really hold to the faithfulness of God that is what we must inevitably do. We see that He is wholly true, and therefore He is to be wholly trusted.

Hence, therefore, we find in Hezekiah the way in which this trust shows itself in all the practical details of his life. I shall note some of them as they come before us in the history that the Holy Ghost gives, but I now pursue the scripture before me. He was therefore more signalized by his trust in Jehovah than any of the kings of Judah either before or after. This was his distinguishing spiritual property. "For he clave to Jehovah and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments which Jehovah commanded Moses." This is a very important thing to observe, for it is not the commandments that produce trust, but it is trust that enables the man to keep the commandments. The only persons who ever did the law in Israel were those who had faith in God, who hung upon Him. It was not looking at the law, or merely deferring to it. Of course they did, but even unconverted persons may defer to the law and be afraid of the consequences. But what produces obedience is always trust. No doubt love does the same thing, only trust is rather that which produces love, because even supposing I do not yet know all God's love, yet I can trust Him; I can confide in Him. As Job said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust" — a low condition it is true, a feeble apprehension of the great grace of God, but it was a very real and a holy one; a very holy one. That is, "At all costs I can trust Him." But then as one learns Him more, so the trust grows, for we perceive His love more. And the result is this — unhesitating obedience to God's word.