Trust is something we all desperately want. Trust is also very fickle. Many people have trust issues. They’ve been hurt one too many times. So they recoil and trust only themselves (and sometimes that’s even hard even to do). Other people place their trust in what seems most reliable to them: a family member, a friend, wealth, power, a sense of control, or something else. To this, we can add that many are now placing their trust in governments and health authorities to get us out of this pandemic. What we must realize, however, is that from a biblical point of view this is all misplaced trust.
Misplaced trust is an ancient problem and temptation. The ancient Israelites also needed something to trust in, especially in spring time. Spring was the beginning of planting season then (as it is for us), but it was also the beginning of war season in the ancient world (1 Chronicles 20:1). The temptation, then, was to place ones trust in the military might of the day: chariots and war horses. They were the tanks and missiles of today. More chariots and more horses equalled more security and peace. What’s remarkable is that in the Bible, God explicitly forbid the king of Israel to “acquire great numbers of horses for himself” (Deuteronomy 16:17).
What a hard thing for the king to do! This meant that he and God’s people as a whole had to give up trusting in the things that seemed most trustworthy and reliable to them and to place their trust in God alone. That’s what this is all about! God wasn’t setting them up for failure! He was teaching his people that he doesn’t need war horses to protect the ones he loves! He’s God almighty, God all-powerful! He wanted them to know that putting their trust in chariots and war horses is a pathetic substitute for putting their trust in him. He was teaching them what Psalm 20:7 so beautifully expresses: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
The Lord Jesus lived and died by this truth. As our King he didn’t trust in chariots and war horses to defeat death ‒ our greatest, most powerful, and fiercest enemy! Instead, he trusted his all-powerful God and heavenly Father! And his Father did not let him down! On Easter Sunday, God did what no government or health authority could ever do! He raised the Lord Jesus from the dead and now the Lord Jesus sits in heaven as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! And the promise of the gospel is that all those who put their trust and faith in the risen King Jesus belong to him in life and death! Death hasn’t won! Jesus is King! He defeated our greatest, most powerful enemy not with chariots and war horses, but by trusting his faithful God and Father!
It’s foolish for us, then, to place our trust in anyone or anything else besides God Almighty and our risen King, Jesus Christ. Family and friends are wonderful! Wealth and power are nice too! Governments and health authorities can do much good in a time like this. But like chariots and war horses, they’re a pathetic substitute for God! He’s the only one you can trust in a time like this. Our pandemic fear must give way to a pandemic trust in God Almighty! He will not let those whom he loves down. He never has. He never will! And even if this pandemic takes your life, if you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you find your life in him, you have nothing to fear! Christ has conquered he is King!