IN WHOM ART THOU TRUSTING?
Isaiah 36:5.… Now on whom dost thou trust?
The question is important in ordinary life, but it is overwhelmingly so in spiritual things.
I. A LITTTE BUNDLE OF ANSWERS.
1. “I do not know that I have thought about the matter; I have left the matter of dying, and of eternity, and of judgment out of my consideration.” How foolish! There are more gates to death than you dream of. Have not you walked with dying men? Suppose you were sure of a long life, why delay being happy? Christ says of the rich man in hell, “He lift up his eyes.” He might and should have done so before, but he said, “Tell my brethren.”
2. “I thank God I am about as good as most people.” Company in being ruined will not decrease, but rather increase the catastrophe. You are trusting in yourself. But is conscience quiet? Only the absolutely perfect man can be saved by his own works.
3. “I trust in my priest.” Has any priest grace to spare for you? You are, or may be, as much a priest as any man can be; Christians are “a royal priesthood.”
4. “Well, God is merciful.” You are trusting in the mercy of God; but, as you state it, you are trusting in what you will never find. If you go to God out of Christ, you will find Him to be a consuming fire; instead of mercy you shall receive justice (H. E. I. 2316–2317, 2349–2350).
5. “Well, I do not say that I can trust to my works, but I am a good-hearted man.” There is much truth in the saying, “If it is bad at the top, it is worse at the bottom; and if it is not good on the surface, it will never pay for getting at it” (Jeremiah 17:9; H. E. I. 2669–2680).
II. THE CHRISTIAN’S ANSWER.
I trust a triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I trust to the Father’s choosing me; to the Son, as my Redeemer, Intercessor, my resurrection, and life; to the Holy Spirit, to save me from my inbred sins, to sanctify me wholly.
To some men this does not look like a real trust. “We cannot see God; how do we know all this about the Trinity?” Cannot you trust in a thousand things you have never seen or heard? You have never seen electricity nor gravity. Those that have trusted in God find Him to be as real as if they could see Him. “Can we prove that God interferes to help His people?” Yes, He hears prayer. A Christian is sometimes asked whether he has a right to trust God. He has God’s promise to help him. “Is He worthy to be trusted?” He has proved Himself faithful and true. The Christian commends God to others in saying that he feels he can rest upon Him for the future.
III. SOME WORDS OF ADVICE TO THOSE WHO ARE TRUSTING.
1. Drive out all unbelief. With such a God to trust to, let us trust with all our might. It is an insult to Him to doubt Him. The devil calls God a liar, but it is hard if a man’s own child is to think ill of his father. We are verily guilty in speaking hard things of our God.
2. Seek the Holy Spirit’s help. We have often said we would not doubt again, yet we have Let us ask to be strengthened. We often forget that the Author of our faith must be the Finisher of it also.
3. Try to bring others to trust where we have trusted (John 1:40-42; John 1:45).
4. Love Him who thus gives Himself to be trusted by us. The sister graces ever live together. Show your love.
4. We must prove our faith by our works. Let us do more for God. “No day without a deed.” Cease working and you will soon cease believing.—C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol xi. pp. 469–480.