The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-12-04
TRUST IN GOD.

|
THE basis of all intelligent and avail
ing trust in God is confidence in His
care. Among men, in commercial and
other relations, confidence is essential
to trust. The merchant does not trust
a customer until he has confidence in
his trustworthiness-in his ability and
willingness to pay. So, trust in God
requires confidence in His trustworthi-
ness, in His ability and willingness to
provide for and fulfill all His promises
to the children of men.
In order to have this confidence in
God it is necessary to have knowl-
edge of His character, for there can be
no intelligent trust or confidence with
out knowledge. The Bible if the chief
source of our knowledge of God, and
teaches that He is every way trust
worthy and pre-eminently responsible,
THAT He has the resources and the
will to fulfill all His pledges. He is
our Father, who has undertaken to care
for us, and whose care is infinitely more
tender and loving than that of earthly
parents for their children. This rela-
ton of Fatherhood is of itself suffi-
Gent guaranty of his care; but He has
also given unto us exceeding great and
precious promises to protect and bless
those who trust Him.: ''Like as father
! pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear Him." .'And the Lord
shall help them; He shall deliver them
from the wicked, and save them because
they trust Him. Crust in the Lord
and do good; so shalt thou dwell in
the land, and verify, thou shalt be
fed" 81 will guide thee with mine
eye" 81 will never leave thee nor for
sake thee.''
The study of Gods Word will not
only convince us that He is worthy of
our entire trust, but will also encour-
age us to trust Him by leading us to see
how greatly to our interest it is to do
SO, and by giving us such knowledge
OF His goodness, mercy, love and ten
der concern for our welfare as will win
our confidence and impel us to trust
Him. And we have great need to
strengthen ourselves in this confidence,
because we see so many things that are
calculated to weaken and destroy it.
we often see wrong prevailing over the
right We see that falsehood and low
cunning are often successful, while
| goodness and integrity 90 unrewarded
and unacknowledged. How often do
we see the highest honor given to what
we know is not the highest desert!
Moreover, the Affections which are COM
mon to all men have a tendency to
weaken confidence in Gods care.
Happy for us if, in spite of all we see
and experience that tends to impair it,
we are able to maintain an unwavering
confidence in God, in His goodness, in
His fatherly care and love for u.s. But
sad indeed is the case of that man who
allows his personal wrongs and misfor-
tunes, or his observation of the tenn
porary success of wicked men, to destroy
his confidence in God. Yet this will be
the case with us all if we interpret God
by the contradictions of evil we see in
the world, or think of Him as in any
way responsible for them. Even David
trust in God was greatly shaken in view
OF the prosperity of the wicked" and
the 'many affections of the righteous"
insomuch that his fleet were almost
gone" and his ''steps had well nigh
slipped" 1t was not until he event
into the sanctuary of God" and "under-
| SeOON ohOh Oiie, Oudb nc WAS dDl0 10
say: Truly God is good to Israel, even
to such as are of clean heart" So
II we would maintain confidence in the
/ goodness and justice of God we must
bear in mind that men alone are re-
sponsible for the wrongs and injustice
that we see; that, in spite of all appear
ances to the contrary, God is ruling the
world IN righteousness, and that all the
attributes of His character are pledged
to secure the ultimate triumph of right
over wrong. The Judge of all the earth
will do right.
But the greatest hindrance to an
awaiting trust in God is neither a lack
OF confidence in Him, nor the sight of
this worlds injustice, but the want of
conscious conformity to His will. "Not
the course of this world, but the weak
ness OF ourselves makes it difficult to
trust in the Lord with all our hearts,
IL IS when our sins come between us and
God and hide from us the light of His
countenance that we lose confidence.
not in His goodness, but in His exer-
cising that goodness toward us. And
there is truth in what we feel, for we
rightly Judge that our wrong-doinp has
taken us away from Him. The frown
ofour own consciences makes us feel that
we are shut out of His sight and care.
Either we dare not, or feel that we can
not, claim to be His children. There
fore, however great our theoretical con-
ndence IN the goodness and loving kind