Choosing to Trust

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4:1

Central Baptist Church, Lowesville, VA

04 March 2007

Popular theology speaks of salvation as a ticket out of hell. Biblical faith is about much more than settling an eternal destination. More than the question of a place, it is the question of relationship and trust. Will we depend upon and trust God, or will we make our own way through life according to our own desires, dreams, and direction? Faith calls us to repeatedly choose the way of Christ Jesus as we walk with God through all the ups and downs of life. How often do I recall that faith requires daily choices to trust God?

Psalm 27 speaks of David’s confidence in Yahweh, the Deliverer of Israel. The tone is of full assurance in God’s provision, protection, and desire to grant victory to Israel against its enemies. It is the kind of song we sing around the campfires in the assurance of peace. It is the kind of song we sing in a place where assurance abounds and there is nothing to fear. This is our song as we relax and bask in the blessings of life. David’s experience was nothing of the kind.

To David, trusting Yahweh was a daily experience on the field of battle. The psalmist’s words portray the quality of David’s confidence as he left the security of the camp to face his enemies in the field. The song may have been sung around the campfire, but it spoke of the reality of confidence in the midst of life’s real problems. It was a record of David’s confident leadership in battle. Do we accept the faithfulness of God’s promise in our daily struggles?

The Disney versions of the fairy tales mostly portray weddings as the climactic resolution of conflict leading to perpetual bliss. The stories do not take the characters beyond the wedding into the realities and conflict of marriage. They do not lead to marriage, after all, only to a glorious wedding celebration. Our Hollywood perspective on marriage seems marinated in this concept that the decision to wed culminates in the pronouncement of vows. We are unprepared for considering the weight of the constant need to choose union in light of the pressures introduced by the wedding vows. Decisions need to consider their effects on the marriage, no longer the individual. The newly-weds must reassess the way they make decisions. They must work toward their common best-interest and purposes. As believers, do we assess our daily choices in light of God’s will and our deciding to give our lives to Christ?

Abram could not foresee the future. As far as he could tell, he had none. He did not understand any reality of life beyond the grave in terms of heaven and hell. As far as he knew, only through the lives of his children could he have any sense of continuity beyond his own death. Children, however, he did not have. Without children, he had no hope of carrying on beyond the moment his corpse was laid to rest. The material blessings of life he had enjoyed would be as worthless as described in Ecclesiastes.

Yahweh promised Abram a great reward. Yahweh promised children for generations on end. It was no easy thing, however, for Abram to take Yahweh’s promise at face value. All the signs of life showed that God promised the impossible. How could he trust the impossible to take place? How could he find release from anxiety over the unknown and unfulfilled, so to live in assurance?

God answered Abram, instructing him to slay animals for a covenant sacrifice. To ratify a covenant, the parties would walk together between the halves of the slain animals. The act expressed that if either party failed to fulfill his duties, he was to be severed like the animals slaughtered. Yet God did not invite Abram to walk with him between the animals of the covenant sacrifice. Yahweh passed through alone, expressing God’s unilateral responsibility to fulfill the promise. With the covenant weight of the sacrifice, Abram was able to take God at His word. He chose to trust God for all that lay ahead. He would have to depend on God’s character, daily trusting Yahweh’s faithfulness.

We were recently watching some of The Walton’s television shows. In one episode, John Walton is accused of theft and refuses to clear himself. His family and friends are certain that John is not guilty, but cannot understand why he will not clear his name. At the end of the show, he explains that he had allowed his pride to interfere with his better judgment. In the meantime, the family rests confidently in John Walton being no thief. They are comfortable with his character and integrity, awaiting the time that clarification will be given. Because they were assured of his character, they could trust in his innocence and faithfulness. Do we know how to rest in God’s care, confident of God’s character and faithfulness?

Paul speaks of those who choose not to make trusting God their way of life. Rather than looking to God’s plan for living, they live for earthly, physical pleasures. It may seem that Paul describes the American way of life. There is more to his description, however, for he classes them as enemies of the cross of Christ. Is dreaming of and working for a comfortable living make us enemies of the cross, or is there more to what Paul is saying?

We should recall that Paul is writing while imprisoned for defending the gospel. He has just spoken of those who would force the gospel of God’s grace back into a legalistic salvation by works. He was imprisoned because many Jews were averse to granting grace to the Gentiles and setting aside the demands of traditional interpretation of Mosaic Law. They were enemies of the cross, because they were enemies of grace. They allowed personal interests to come between themselves and taking up the cross of Christ. Their preferred way of life interfered with living a confidence in the gospel of Christ Jesus. They had chosen to allow the concerns shared by society to interfere with the gospel. When our faith conflicts with society’s demands, which wins?

We know stories of Christians who were martyred for their faith. They chose to stand up against persecution to witness for the surpassing worth of the gospel of Christ Jesus. Ignatius of Antioch wrote en route to trial in Rome, “I am beginning to become a disciple ... The fire and the cross, multitudes of beasts, broken bones (…) all will I accept, so long as I receive Jesus Christ.”^[1] Such martyrs understood faith to include decisions that placed their lives on the line. They determined that making such choices to trust God was just part of believing in God’s sufficiency and being faithful to Christ. They exchanged earthly goals for heavenly one. Do we consider that exchange worthwhile?

Faith is much more than a choice to accept Jesus as Savior. It is much more than accepting a “Get Out of Hell Free” card. It is more than claiming entrance into the realm we call heaven. Faith is about laying down our lives to the lordship of Christ. It is accepting life on God’s terms, including a new definition of living. Will we choose to trust God’s definition of blessed living as sufficient?

—©2007 Christopher B. Harbin

¹ González, Justo L. Uma História Ilustrada do Cristianismo, vol. 1: A Era dos Mártires. São Paulo: Vida Nova, 1995. (Spanish original, 1994), p. 66.