One of the great men of God was brother D.L. Moody. A
favorite verse of his was:
Isaiah 12:2 “Behold, God is my salvation, I will
trust and not be afraid; For the Lord
God is my strength and song, And
He has become my salvation.”
He used to say, "You can travel to Heaven
first-class or second-class. First-class is, I will trust and not be afraid.
Second-class is, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee!”
The word “trust” and its concept are used throughout the
Scriptures. Many times we miss the point of a Scripture because it deals with
an issue that we are over sensitive about. This Proverb is an example of that. Most
people that read this Proverb would think it is about money, which this includes,
but that is not the main point. The reason for this is that we humans really
have a hard time balancing what Scripture teaches about money and our desire
for it, thinking that it brings security.
Let's deal with these two concepts first. Nowhere in Scripture
does it say that God hates money, also money is a neutral item in the
Scripture. It carries no inherent evil. Instead, what the Scripture warns is
our heart’s approach towards money. This is one of those areas where God's
Word speaks very clearly in black and white terms.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for
it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Firstly, that is a complete lie from Scripture and is even
confronted in Proverbs through a prayer that expresses the proper balance that
God desires.
Proverbs 30:8–9 First,
help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give
me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say,
“Who is the Lord?” And if I am too
poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.
Notice, it states “needs” not desires!
Secondly, without exception these preachers and teachers heap
the riches they receive from the thousands that flock to them upon themselves,
and live a lifestyle that exposes their lust for money.
Tragically, the vast
majority of those that send money cannot afford it, but do so because they
themselves are afflicted with greed and believe the lie that these teachers
have so skillfully taught, that if you give your money to God then He will
bless you with all that you want. Now just to be clear, let me state it the way
they do: “if you sow your seed of faith, God will give you a hundred fold
harvest.”
Now let me tell you what that really means: “if you send your money to me, I will keep
it and you can wait for God to give you what you want, I do not wait on God, I
get what I want from you!”
Scripture sets out the standard and the warning for this issue
when it comes to His leaders.
1 Timothy 3:2–3 An overseer, then, must be above
reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable,
able to teach, not addicted to
wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.
2 Timothy 3:1–2
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will
be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient
to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
2 Peter 2:1–3 But
there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers
among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the
Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on
themselves. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful
immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.
In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money.
But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.
As I stated, trust is used throughout the Scripture along with
other words that convey the same concept. When we place our dependency on God
hoping only in Him, and believing that He alone is going to be the One that
delivers us either from trouble or toward that which we desire, that is what it
means to trust. Scriptures are replete with stories and examples of individuals
who trusted in something or someone other than God, and in every circumstance
there was a fall or destruction.
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