Promises of God: Trust

"But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."  - Jeremiah 17:7 -8

- Jeremiah 17:7 -8

“All sin, whether attitudinal or in behaviour, comes from one thing: unbelief in the promises of God. The taproot out of which sprouts all the weeds of sin is the taproot of unbelief in the promises of God. Anxiety, misplaced shame, indifference, regret, covetousness, envy, lust, bitterness, impatience, despondency, pride. All of these are sprouts that grow from the taproot of unbelief in the promises of God.” - Pastor John Piper

When we reject belief in God's promise, we essentially declare a lack of trust in God. What does it mean to trust someone? It means having faith in their reliability, truth, and abilities.

Distrust in God implies a lack of confidence in His reliability (being consistently good), truthfulness (in accordance with fact or reality), and ability (having the power, skill, means, or opportunity to accomplish something).

Conversely, when we actively trust and believe in God's promises, we bring glory to God. Having complete trust and confidence in God is synonymous with having faith. Faith serves as the conduit or instrument that God employs to bring salvation to His people. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” - Ephesians 2:8

Let’s examine the biblical definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1:

• Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (NIV)

• Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (ESV)

• To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. (GNT)

Breaking this down:

• Now faith - what we aim to define

• is confidence - a profound assurance in something or someone and their abilities, relying on someone or something. 

• in what we hope for -

• Hope is the desire for something good in the future. For instance, a friend might say, “I hope Sarah comes to dinner tonight so we can catch up on life.” In other words, they desire her presence at dinner to experience this good thing, namely, catching up on life.

• Hope is the reason why our hope might indeed come to pass. For instance, we might say, “A clear road with no traffic is our only hope of arriving on time.” In other words, the clear road is the reason we may, in fact, achieve the future good that we desire. It’s our only hope.

• And assurance - a positive declaration intended to give confidence

• about what we do not see - the unknown, the things that seem impossible, future things/eternal things

Biblical hope is not a mere wish for something good to happen; it is a confident expectation and desire for a positive outcome in the future. Therefore, faith is a robust confidence, and doubt is the adversary of biblical faith. Faith is hope, and hope, too, is a robust confidence, not merely wishful thinking.

"Against all hope, Abraham, in hope, believed and thus became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.” - Romans 4:18 

“Against hope” signifies that, from the ordinary human standpoint, there was no hope. Yet, due to our confidence in God, we can hope against all odds.