“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2 ESV)
Trust
The Emperor Napoleon had a lot of underlings. He supervised Generals, Admirals, Educators, Economists, and Administrators. But beyond Napoleon’s reputation for being short, a military genius, and impetuous, Napoleon charismatically drew the loyalty of those in his government, social circles, and nation.
When folk of that era describe their loyalty, many of them declared that loyalty was the only reasonable response to Napoleon. Because somehow Napoleon made his people believe that he loved them.
Love tends to breed loyalty. Love tends to breed faithfulness. Love tends to breed trust.
Isaiah’s declaration that he trusts God is founded on Isaiah’s knowledge that God loved Isaiah.
Sometimes we get that backwards. But Isaiah’s (and our) trust in God comes from His love. His love does not come from our trust.
If occasionally you find yourself lacking in trust, the answer is not to drive yourself closer to Him with guilt.
The answer is to consider His love.
The more you can see, acknowledge, and wonder at His love… the easier trust becomes.