Thoughts for the Day

Trust in God under Adversity. A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.

O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
many are saying to me,
‘There is no help for you in God.’

But you, O Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
I cry aloud to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy hill.

I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
I am not afraid of tens of thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.

Rise up, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.

Deliverance belongs to the Lord;
may your blessing be on your people!

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Yesterday we looked at King David fleeing from his son Absalom (Psalm 63), who seeks to take over his father's throne. All David can do is to leave Jerusalem with his supporters and head for the Judean wilderness. We saw his faith in God was strong and that he sought him as a thirsty man seeks water in the desert. Today Psalm 7 concerns the same incident, but now we look at David's trust in God.

So what is the difference between faith and trust? They have similar meanings, and often people will use the words interchangeably. In the scriptures faith is defined as “the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11.1). In other words, faith involves belief in something you cannot actually prove. Faith however, is inseparable from trust, it’s the confidence that God can and will do what He says. Put practically, faith allows me to believe that a chair is made to support me, and trust shows my faith by actually sitting on the chair.

I once gazed at a rope bridge across a raging river and faith allowed me to believe it was suitable for an adult to walk on; trust was shown when I walked across the rope bridge. This is the kind of faith and trust that David has in God. He has many foes, so far he has escaped them, but his faith in God is undiminished - he sees God as a physical shield which allows him to sleep at night and rise the next day. He will be victorious because God is with him, and the victory will be God's!

Trusting in God is essential to our faith and is a core strength to be worked on this Lent.

Heavenly Father,
may we have faith in You and in Your Son
through the power of Your Spirit.
May we exercise our trust in what we believe
and learn to live a life worthy of that faith.
Help us to grow in faith and actively trust in You
in our day to day life.
Amen.