WHERE IS YOUR TRUST? by L. A. Hansen

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 5, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 10.

WHERE IS YOUR TRUST?

By L. A. Hansen

BY L. A. HANSEN.

“AND hope maketh not ashamed.” Rom. 5:5. The hope that is here meant is the hope that one has in God, the belief or trust that is placed in him, “for the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Rom. 10:11. The words just preceding those last quoted say that “with the mouth confession is made unto righteousness,” and from this we would understand that if we have hope in the Lord, that is, believe or trust in him, we will not be ashamed to confess him.

Our Saviour knew the perversity of the human heart, and well understood that man is prone to be ashamed to own his Lord in every place, at all times, and under all circumstances. He has told us that if we confess him before men, he will confess us before his Father and the holy angels, and if we deny him, he will deny us. Luke 12:8. It is therefore of very great importance that we have that which “maketh not ashamed,” and that is, hope in the Lord.

We notice that it says, “Hope maketh not ashamed.” No, hope in Christ does not cause one to be ashamed at any time, but it has the opposite effect altogether. It makes one glory in the Gospel. Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.” It is the privilege of the Christian to glory in the cross of Christ. Gal. 6:14.

The Christian is to add to his faith “virtue,” or “courage” to declare his faith. When all are called before the bar of God, much will depend on who or what we have had hope in, or have trusted in for salvation. There are many that have their hopes founded on falsehood. Many have hope in something that they consider meritorious, some goodness or worthiness of their own, but it will only be those that have placed implicit hope and trust in the Lord that will not be made ashamed at his coming. The very things that others have hoped in will make them ashamed, but hope maketh not ashamed.

An investigation of the subject will show that many scriptures present the fact that it is only as we have our hope and trust in the Lord that we can be kept from being ashamed. In many places we read of the blessings of the man that trusts in God, and frequently we read that such a man shall not be ashamed, or be confounded. While the thought that men who trust in the Lord will not be ashamed to confess him is not excluded, yet it seems that the greatest blessing is that in the great day of the Lord they will not be put to shame, confounded, or disappointed. At the coming of the Lord many will cry to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them to hide them from the presence of the Lord (Rev. 6:15, 16), while another class will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us” (Isa. 25:9). God says, “They shall not be ashamed that wait for me.” Isa. 49:23.

It might be well to notice in connection with this some of the things that men put their trust in. The Saviour spake a parable “unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous.” Luke 18:9. We are told in 2 Cor. 1:9 “that we should not trust in ourselves.” Self is, perhaps, the thing that is most frequently trusted in, and yet nothing will more certainly put us to shame than that. “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.” Prov. 28:26.

While those who trust in their own righteousness do not see that it is but “as filthy rags,” yet the Bible says it is, and one day they will sense it. In this life men are very much ashamed to be clothed in dirty, ragged clothing, but how will they feel in the day when their condition is manifested in the glorious light of the righteousness of Christ? They will then surely be ashamed.

While very strange, yet it is true that some trust in riches, so true that God has seen it necessary to give admonition on that point. Those that are rich should not “trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God.” 1 Tim. 6:17. All do not heed this injunction, but often there is seen a man who believes that, because he has much wealth, and gives perhaps quite freely to religious enterprises, he is excused in not obeying God, and that it will perhaps not be so bad with him in the time of reckoning. “The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him: Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches.” Ps. 52:6, 7. “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall.” Prov. 11:28.

The importance of knowing the truth and putting our trust in it instead of trusting in the falsehoods of men is presented to us in the Scriptures. It is plainly shown that there is great danger of our putting our trust in the lying words of men. The thirteenth chapter of Ezekiel tells about people that will say that the Lord has said a thing when he has not said it. We learn from that chapter and from other scriptures that great condemnation rests upon those who divine lies and lead people to trust in them. Those who believe in them are not excusable for not finding out what truth is; and while there may be a great many that are agreed in practising a thing for which there is no scriptural authority, but only the word of man, yet, despite the greatness of the number of such, in the day when God’s presence shows them to be transgressors, they will every one be ashamed.

Those who trust in other gods will be “as the thief is ashamed when he is found” (Jer.

2:26), but “blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is” (Jer. 17:7). The last words are given in contrast to the fact that cursed is “the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.” Verse 5. Man is not cursed because the Lord pronounces a curse upon him, but because he takes the course that he does; it is but the inevitable result of trusting in anything but the Lord. “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” 1 John 2:28.