Day 58 - Five-Fold Trust

Numbers In The Bible Series:
Day 58 - Five-Fold Trust

How many times have we heard the statement, "Trust in Christ as your Saviour"? There is only One that you can trust explicitly and totally for all things in your spiritual life as well as your physical life. I find it interesting that there are five occurrences of the phrase I will trust in the Word of God. The number five symbolizes God's grace. There is no greater grace than that given to us at the Cross of Cavalry. When we trust Christ as our Saviour, we receive that grace of God in our lives. Noah Webster defines this grace as:

Appropriately, the free unmerited love and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from him.

And if by grace,then it is no more of works. Rom 11.

We cannot earn God's love - we cannot work for our salvation - it is free. Eph. 2:8-9, For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (8) Not of works, lest any man should boast. (9)

Noah defines trust as:

Confidence; a reliance or resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship or other sound principle of another person.

Christ left His Heavenly home because there was no way mankind could get to Heaven on his own merit. His compassion for us was so great that He gave up everything and shed His own blood to pay the price for our sins. A price must be paid - judgment must be served - and Christ paid this price and took upon Himself the judgment for all of our sins, my friend. All it takes for us is to trust Him. Trust Him for what? Trust the fact that He is the only way to Heaven and His death, burial and resurrection is the only Gospel - the only way to Heaven. There is none other. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Act 4:12) Once we have trusted Christ with our salvation and have been saved, we learn to trust Him with everything else in our lives.

Let's look at the five occurrences of trust:

1. Trust in His strength: The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. (Psa 18:2) There is nothing that will cross our path in life that will be too difficult for the Lord to handle. Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? (Jer 32:27) Does this not bring you great comfort? It surely does for me!

2. Trust in His judgment: But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee. (Psa 55:23) Man will have his time before God and he will be judged! Everyone will have to bow before God and be judged. It is interesting to note that there are three occurrences of this prophecy in the Word: I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. (Isa 45:23) For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. (Rom 14:11) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (Phi 2:10) Man can sin against you and hurt you but his time will come. We do not need to seek vengeance - his punishment will come soon enough.

3. Trust in His protection: What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. (Psa 56:3) How many times have you been afraid? How can you trust in a friend to take care of your fears when he cannot be there 24/7? But God is there always - He never sleeps and is there to comfort us in time of fear. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. (Psa 121:4) How wonderful is that? There have been times when I have feared the outcome of a certain trial and the Lord has taught me to trust Him with this fear. In so doing, I was showered with peace in the midst of this trial. My problem was not over but I no longer was afraid of the outcome because I had a calm assurance that God would work it all out.

4. Trust in His care: I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. (Psa 61:4) I recall never feeling safer than when my father put his arm around me. I knew that the world could fall apart around me but I was safe. It blesses me that God would use these words about His care to bring us comfort. We can trust that He will care for us. David found comfort in God's care. Five times in the Word we can find thy wings - all five are found in the Book of Psalms. Again, God's grace can be found in His care for us! It is soothing to picture ourselves enveloped in God's arms!

5. Trust in His salvation: Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. (Isa 12:2) When we are born again, we are placed into God's family. As a parent, do you randomly add and remove your children from your family because of their behavior? Of course not! A parent's whole purpose is found in their children! When my child has abandoned me, I do not abandon him - no matter what he has done! In fact, the more trouble my child is in, the more I pray for him. The more sin he is involved in, the more I strive to bring him back to his God. The bottom line here is that although my child has strayed from me, my love for him has not ceased and I am more determined to get him back. How much more the Heavenly Father? We can wholly trust in God to keep our salvation. We may turn our backs on God, but He will never turn His back on us. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (Joh 10:28)

I challenge you to find one friend on this earth that you can trust in who can provide you with this five-fold trust. Some may be able to provide strength, protection and care - but none can provide those as well as judgment and salvation! Only God can fulfill this five-fold trust. As Noah Webster defined trust, can you say that you totally trust God with every intimate area of your life? Do you have full confidence that your salvation is protected? Do you rely and have rest in your mind that God will take care of all things in your life? And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Phi 4:7)

Put Thou Thy Trust in God
Paul Gerhardt

Put thou thy trust in God,
In duty’s path go on;
Walk in His strength with faith and hope,
So shall thy work be done.

Commit thy ways to Him,
Thy works into His hands,
And rest on His unchanging Word,
Who Heav’n and earth commands.

Though years on years roll on,
His cov’nant shall endure;
Though clouds and darkness hide His path,
The promised grace is sure.

Give to the winds Thy fears;
Hope, and be undismayed;
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears;
God shall lift up thy head.

Through waves, and clouds, and storms,
His power will clear thy way;
Wait thou His time, the darkest night
Shall end in brightest day.

Leave to His sovereign sway
To choose and to command;
So shalt thou, wond’ring, own His way,
How wise, how strong His hand.

Devotional by Kate Plourde

60 Day Devotional Series: Numbers In The Bible