Try the latest Words of Life as Spotify Podcasts.

Tip: To see latest Words of Life, use Refine Search to list by Year. If using Mobile device, Refine Search may be located at end of page.

We know that as Christians our first requirement is to strengthen our faith in our Lord. Without a faith in the Father as the Creator, the Son as the redeemer and the Holy Ghost as the teacher, One God to all eternity, it is impossible for us to advance further as our text teaches us to TRUST. Likewise, it is of no use to develop the strongest of faiths if we are not then prepared to take that next step to trust. According to the dictionary trust means “Confidence and reliance on the integrity, justice, or quality of a person.” This certainly shows us that we need to step on from faith.

We see little children show trust in their parents because they are confident that they will not be led into anything that would harm them. We also need to develop this same trust in our Lord, developing a confidence in His ways, recognizing that He knows and understands justice, and possesses a quality that we can trust. That quality of course, is love. When we develop this, we then need to do the next part of the text; to do good.

If we continue to think of the little children who trust their parents, we see they try to make an extra effort to do things that they know will please the parents. We too, should be moved by this trust in God, to have the desire to do those things which we know are pleasing to Him in our lives, and of course these are to live by His commandments and teachings to bring forth His virtues. As with the little children, the desire and confidence is that they will be allowed to live in the secure and loving environment of the family circle and continue to be fed. We too, are given the promise from the Lord that we will continue to dwell in His creation and be fed, both naturally and spiritually.

Now God has given us through His word, warnings on how we sometimes can be misled and place our trust in the wrong things:

• Psalms. 118:8     “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.”
• Proverbs. 3:5      “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart: and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
• Psalms. 62:10     “Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery; If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.”
• Psalms. 146:3     “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.”
• Jeremiah. 29:31 “He caused you to trust in a lie.”

The opposite to trust is doubt and all of us many times in our life, let this doubt overshadow the absolute trust we must develop. Doubt invariably leads us to discontentment and soon the trust is as far away as ever. This usually happens when there is a delay in the fulfillment of our desires and this is written of in Proverbs.13:12, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” It is times like this we need to turn to prayer in the way described by Apostle Paul Romans. 8:26, “Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

The bible teaches us of many examples of faith taken on to trust. We can read of the trust of Mary and Joseph who, having faith in God, followed His every message to them about where they would be led, to be vessels of His in being used to ensure that the world would be blessed by their trust in God. How they journeyed almost 200 km to Bethlehem so the word of God could be fulfilled, and then to be told to continue their journey with the child on to another country, Egypt. Joseph was not a rich man, being a carpenter, having taken a new wife, now being responsible for a family, being nowhere near his home where he could ask for help, but in their trust to God, they obeyed and we see that God sent the Wise Men from the east to present valuable gifts to the child which could be used to sustain them while in Egypt.

It is this kind of trust we must add to our faith and we can be sure that we too will receive the blessings of God.