Where Is Your Trust 1 Of 2

Do you realize how much trust is a part of our life each day?

• Every time we flip a light switch, we trust that the light will come on

• Every time we place the key in the ignition of our car and turn it, we expect the car to start

• Every time we sit in a chair, we expect it to support us

Every day our life is filled with trust in THINGS and PEOPLE.

So often we find it hard to trust, because we have been let down so many times.

For example, we elect people into political offices to represent us. They say everything we want to hear, but once they are in office they forget the promises they made.

Illus: Imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:

• 29 have been accused of spousal abuse

• 7 have been arrested for fraud

• 19 have been accused of writing bad checks

• 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses

• 3 have done time for assault

• 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit

• 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges

• 8 have been arrested for shoplifting

• 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits

• 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year

Can you guess which organization this is? It's the 535 members of the United States Congress.

It is difficult for us to TRUST. Many times we find ourselves wondering if we can trust ANYONE!

Illus: In May 1995, Randy Reid, a 34-year-old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago. According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding he stood on. The scaffolding tipped, and Reid lost his balance. He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911. When paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. Apparently the fall didn't cost Reid his sense of humor. As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: "Don't drop me." (Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung.) (Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 4.)

Sometimes we resemble that construction worker, in that God has taken care of us over and over again, but we are afraid if we put our trust in man, HE WILL DROP US!

Listen, we do not need to be so eager to trust man, but it is essential that we TRUST GOD!

• We read in 1 Pet. 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

• We read in Matt. 6:28-34, “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

WHAT IS THE LORD SAYING? He is saying that if we live our Christian life TRUSTING Him, He will take care of us. If something concerns you, God wants you to know it concerns Him. And no matter how BIG or SMALL a problem might be; you can trust Him!

Our scripture text shows us the various places that people during the days of the Psalmist put their trust. The Psalmist said:

• Some put their trust in their chariots

• Some put their trust in their horses

• Some put their trust in the Lord

Everyone puts his trust somewhere.

Illus: Ann Beck said, “When my husband and I taught 2 and 3-year-olds in Sunday school, a Bible verse we helped them memorize was Psalm 56:3, ‘When I am afraid, I will trust in you.’ Our preschool son, Mark, was one of our pupils.

One stormy night, as lightning flashed and thunder boomed, the electricity suddenly went off. ‘I'm not afraid,’ Mark assured us as we groped in the dark for candles and matches. Expecting him to quote the Bible verse he recently learned, I proudly prompted him, ‘And tell us why you aren't afraid.’ ‘Cause I've got my flashlight.’" (Ann Beck, North Carollton, MS, Today's Christian Woman)