Editorial May 28, 1910 Issue

TRUST

Annie M. Knott

It is deeply interesting to study the many exhortations to trust which are to be found in the Scriptures, and the wonderful examples of trust in the divine power which appear along with them. The psalmist says of God, "Blessed are all they that put their trust in him," and there are doubtless many who would be glad to know how this trust and its attendant blessedness are to be attained. Say what we may, no person can trust one whom he does not know; or one whom he believes to be bad. The one whom we trust must possess qualities which justify our confidence; all the qualities, indeed, in order to justify perfect trust on our part; and here we are told, "Acquaint now thyself with him [God], and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee."

Jeremiah says, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in [mortal] man, and maketh flesh his arm." How often do men bewail their misplaced confidence when they do this foolish thing against which the prophet warns us, and find that in their hour of trial they have leaned upon a broken reed which pierced the hand; not that a brother would wilfully harm one, but that reliance on aught less than infinite divine Principle must fail sooner or later. The prophet who gives this solemn warning does not leave us, however, with the gloomy thought that doubt must be the guardian of our consciousness. On the contrary he says, evidently quoting from the 1st and 2nd Psalms, "Blessed is the man who trusteth in the Lord," and he compares this blessedness to the perpetual verdure of a tree which draws its strength from hidden springs, and ceases not to bear fruit even in seasons of drought. The all-important consideration, then, is to know God, and to know Him better each day.

A splendid example of true trust is to be found in Paul's letter to Timothy, written when the former was awaiting sentence under Nero. He says, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him." Paul's course had not been an easy one, but he had proved that his trust was not misplaced,—when deliverance came to him in the Philippian dungeon, in shipwreck, in many perils; the crowning proof being the healing work which he himself did by the Christ-power. The process involved the disappearing of the Adam-man that never trusts God but believes the serpent, and the appearing of the Christ-man who trusts God because he knows Him.

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