What Does Trust Even Mean?
What does trust even mean? When people tell us to trust God what does that mean? Does it simply mean have confidence in him, and believe everything will be alright, or does it go even deeper then that?
I. Lets define trust first:
A. Let’s see what Dictionary.com says:
The definition of trust according to dictionary.com: reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.
Well what does reliance mean? Reliance also from dictionary.com: confident or trustful dependence.
B. Well, I was curious so I asked some people what they believed Trust meant.
B2. -Me: In your own words, define Trust
-Charlie N: Feeling of reliance on another person
-Steven G: Feeling of reliance on another person
-Spencer R: Trust is like being able to tell someone anything and know that it won’t be told to any other people without your permission. Confidentiality.
-Michael M: Totally believing in something I guess, unconditionally.
-Zakk U:
-Tim B: Trust is the assurance of something or someone but the basis is based on the amount of confidence you have on what this thing is or what the person says because of their track record to see what it claims and to see if there is integrity in what it says. However, there are different levels of trust. (Not typed exactly as Tim said; started to just listen and not type while he was talking)
II. Scriptures that contain Trust and using e-sword with the King James Version of the Bible with the Strongs and see what were the Hebrew/Greek words used and see the difference between trust and these words or how they go together. Also using other translations such as NIV.
A. (NIV) Psalm 3:7: Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture
A1: bâṭach- A primitive root; properly to hie for refuge. Well what does hie mean? Lets go to dictionary.com.
A2: Definition of hie by dictionary.com- Hie: to hasten (oneself)
B: (NIV) Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
B2: bâṭach- see above same as A1
C: (KJV) Psalm 16:1: Michtam of David. Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
C1: châsâh- A primitive root; to flee for protection; figuratively to confide in
C2: Definition of Confide: to impart secrets trustfully; discuss private matters or problems.
D: (NIV) Psalm 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him
D1: Now lets compare that to the King James Translation: (KJV) Psalm 18:30: As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
III. Refuge and protection: why does this keep coming up in the word trust when accounted with the scripture?
A. The definition of Refuge from dictionary.com- Refuge: a place of shelter, protection, or safety.
B. The definition of Protection from dictionary.com, the act of protecting or the state of being protected; preservation from injury or harm.
C. (NIV) Psalm
D. (NIV) Psalm 9:9: It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of
IV. Putting this all together (using an analogy of a Bank- not the best analogy but it works)
A. Trust… is there a difference in trusting God and trusting people? No, there isn’t. However, are the levels of trust different? Absolutely. When we trust someone or something, we go to them and give them knowledge or anything else that we do not want people to know on a public basis. In someway, it’s putting this information or whatever in a bank, based on our assumption on whether that bank is worthy of our investment in it. If we don’t think the bank will keep our investment, we won’t go to it; we will find another bank to invest into. When we invest something, we put our own time into it; we take sacrifices in whatever to make the investment fruitful thus using the term invest. It’s just not the bank that will be doing something; it is also the investor who will spend time, money, talent, etc in that bank because we believe it is “trustworthy”.
B. Now we’ve got that basis of thought going, getting a good idea of what trusting truly is; now what about when we say “trust in God”? In the Bible when you go back to the Greek/Hebrew words it clearly says to quickly take refuge in or to flee from wherever you are to protection. We can use this as the example before, it is telling us to QUICKLY invest our time into God, meaning we have to do something and fast; it is not just God the lone wolf. No, it is saying INVEST in your relationship with God. It is saying this bank is worthy; it will make your investment fruitful, as long as you continue to invest into it, since a bank can’t help you if you don’t put anything in it. Getting out of the analogy, God has paid a hefty price, his Son, and yet still invests in it and all you have to do is seek the relationship and invest in it.
C. I mentioned earlier about there being different levels; well what are these different levels? Well let’s use examples to explain them. When you give someone your phone number, you trust that they won’t give them to everyone, yet you probably won’t trust them with your car. The cell phone trust is usually a lower level of trust and the car trust is usually a bigger trust. Now imagine a trust, when you’re basically investing your whole life into a bank. Do you have that level of trust for any human? No, absolutely not, for humans constantly let us down because they aren’t perfect. Now that doesn’t mean they can’t be in higher levels of trust. However, God is the only person who we could possibly invest our lives into. He truly is the only one that is worthy of the highest level of trust. Jesus was the only exception to humans not being perfect, and he is one of the reasons why God is the only one who can be on that final level of trust where we could give our whole life to him. For Jesus died on the cross for us; would any person you know give up themselves or their son to forgive you of everything you’ve done or going to do and never look differently at you again? No, it is impossible. When we look at this, this is why the Bible is telling us, QUICKY INVEST in God, for your life will become so much better. Trust in him! Make him your refuge! Look at these things! He will not let you down, he truly will make you happier then you’ve ever been in the past or ever well. He will make your Investment, your Life, Fruitful; all you have to do is trust in him and invest.
1 comment:
Wow! Nice job Tony! The illustrations were great as well as the Greek origins you dug up. Charlie - thanks for posting this!
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