And put your trust in the Lord

 

Psalms 4:5(NKJV)

5    Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,     And put your trust in the Lord.

We hear that a lot in the Bible but what exactly does it mean?  Is there any special significance to the word trust? 

That was the question that occurred to me today.  I have a general sense of what it means but I thought I'd look up the definition of the word trust.  Now I've got to admit that I wish I had paid a little more attention in English class so that I had a better understanding of the difference between nouns, verbs, adjectives,  etc.  Oh well!

trust

noun

1. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

2. confident expectation of something; hope.

3. confidence in the certainty of future payment for property or goods received; credit: to sell merchandise on trust.

4. a person on whom or thing on which one relies: God is my trust.

5. the condition of one to whom something has been entrusted.

adjective

12. Law. of or pertaining to trusts or a trust.

verb (used without object)

13. to rely upon or place confidence in someone or something (usually followed by in  or to  ): to trust in another's honesty; trusting to luck.

14. to have confidence; hope: Things work out if one only trusts.

15. to sell merchandise on credit.

verb (used with object)

16. to have trust or confidence in; rely or depend on.

17. to believe.

18. to expect confidently; hope (usually followed by a clause or infinitive as object): trusting the job would soon be finished; trusting to find oil on the land.

19. to commit or consign with trust or confidence.

20. to permit to remain or go somewhere or to do something without fear of consequences: He does not trust his children out of his sight.

Pasted from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trust?s=t>

So for the most part it means just what I thought it meant.  The additional understanding that I've gotten out of this is that there seem to be two things here that are essential in demonstrating to God that we have indeed put our trust in Him.  Those two things are reliance and expectation.

So what does reliance mean exactly?

re·li·ance

noun

1. confident or trustful dependence.

2. confidence.

3. something or someone relied on.

Pasted from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reliance?s=ts>

Trustful dependence.  Do you depend on God or is He there "just in case" you need Him? 

Expectation is pretty self explanatory.  It is an attitude.  How do you approach God?  Is your trust in God whiney and pleading or is it confident and full of expectation? 

Why is this important?  Because God has said He has our backs.  When we continually whine and plead for God to fix things I believe this actually shows a lack of trust in God.  Your not sure He has heard you or your not sure He is really going to work it out in the end.  Does that make sense?

So as you put your trust in God, make sure you are truly willing to rely on Him and then once you have made the decision to rely on God then do it in an expectant fashion!