God is Trustworthy

I’ve known this concept for a long time: God is trustworthy. However, I have still struggled with not feeling like I can trust Him. This lesson has helped me see the many reasons and ways that David trusted God in the midst of all kinds of attacks and struggles. Psalms 31, 40, 55, and 56 address David’s trust issues and shows why he trusts God in every area of his life.

After noting many situations and David’s thoughts about those situations in Psalm 31, I noticed a pattern in the circumstances that prompt David to trust God. The circumstances (which were mostly the same in the other Psalms from this week’s study) encompassed physical, mental, emotional, and social situations in which David felt besieged. In some of the other Psalms I noticed that David was convinced he could trust God in situations where he was under military attack. David relied on God’s protection to see him through. Psalm 55 specifically addresses a situation where a very close friend of David’s betrayed him. David calls him a traitor (vs. 12-13). David is clearly heartbroken by the friend’s turning against him. David realizes that there is no one but God who is completely trustworthy to look out for his interests.

I’m not saying we should hold every friend in doubt and fear of betrayal. This passage just brings home the fact that mere men cannot always keep their words or their promises – whether out of treachery or just because they are human and make mistakes. People will, in general, fail us at one point or another just because they are human and fallible. However, God is not human and He will keep His promises He’s made to us. We can and should trust Him with every aspect of our lives.

I chose to memorize Psalm 56:3-4 this week because one of my go to emotions is fear.

When I am afraid,

I will put my trust in Thee.

In God, whose word I praise,

In God I have put my trust;

I shall not be afraid.

What can mere man do to me?

I also like what C.H. Spurgeon had to say about Psalm 56:3-4:

It is a blessed fear which drives us to trust. Unregenerate fear drives from God, gracious fear drives to Him. If I fear man I have only to trust God, and I have the best antidote. To trust when there is no cause for fear, is but the name of faith, but to be reliant upon God when occasions for alarm are abundant and pressing, is the conquering faith of God’s elect. Though the verse is in the form of a resolve, it became a fact in David’s life; let us make it so in ours. Whether the fear arise from without or within, from past, present, or future, from temporals or spirituals, from men or devils, let us maintain faith, and we shall soon recover courage. [Emphasis added]

One of the questions in the study asked, “What other aspects of the psalmist’s life were touched because of his trust in God?” I answered simply, “All areas. Relationships, health, emotions, physical protection and well-being, soul condition, spiritual condition, mental health, and vengeance upon enemies.” David’s faith and relationship with God blossomed because God has proven Himself worthy and shown His care and love for man. My trust in Him has also been growing as a result of new recognition that I can trust God for every aspect of my life – especially when I am afraid.