In whom do you trust?

In my reading yesterday, I came across a familiar couple of verses in Psalms:

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalms 9:9-10 (ESV)

Verse 10 always seems to challenge me. Those who know God's name, who have come to have an experiential knowledge of God's character in their own lives, put their trust in him. But what does it mean to really place our trust in God?

If we were to depend upon the dictionary definition of trust, it would mean that we would rely on the integrity, strength, ability, and surety of God, confident that he would care for us. Of course, the ultimate measure of our trust in God is our core belief that he can be depended upon to protect and keep us. Ah, but this can be hard in hard times.

Picture a child on the edge the community swimming pool, uncertainty and a healthy dose of apprehension painted on his little face. His father, three feet away and in the pool chest deep, encourages the boy to jump, telling him that he will catch him and not let him go under. To a great extent, the level of established trust between the boy and his father will determine the child's actions.

Has his father ever told him he would catch him in a pool, then failed?

Has his father ever told him he would do something for certain, then failed to do so?

The final decision will be based in large part on the father's trustworthiness in the opinion of his son. If the son feels that Dad has let him down before, even if it was to teach him a valuable skill or lesson, the child will very likely remain where he is.

Our perceptions of times that God has let us down colors our own willingness to trust him in times of need. While we know he loves us, and has saved us from calamity and trials previously, there is this nagging thought that if he really loved us, we wouldn't be in our current situation. So often, we tend to view God's trustworthiness against the backdrop of our perception of a pleasant, happy, and abundant life....even though the Bible clearly tells us that it is through many tribulations that we will enter his Kingdom.

As such, our trust must be based upon something deeper. We must trust that God's direction for our lives, both in feast and in famine, in good times and in trials, is the best course of action not only for ourselves personally, but for our brothers and sisters in Christ, for the lost and dying around us, and as the means God uses to bring about his purposes in the world. How we choose to face these challenges can not only help us grow as children of God, but can be a powerful witness to others. The testimony of our trusting reaction to hardship can even be the very purpose God has led us into that place.

Trusting that each situation in which we find ourselves is a part of God's over-arching purpose, we can both rest in the knowledge that God is most definitely in control, and be energized even in the most difficult of times. God has placed us wherever we are today for a purpose. If that purpose is not clear to us, it is not that our current situation is meaningless...it is a wake-up call to us to look for the reason and serve God in this place, whether it be a green pasture, or a dark valley.

Those who know, truly know, God's name...that is who he really is, place their trust in him.

Through the study of his word, prayer, and fellowship with like-minded believers, we can begin to know God's name. We can live and walk in his light...and we can be assured that even though we may walk in the valley of shadows, he is leading us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

In whom do you trust?