The body of truth that constitutes the ground of our calling is called "The Faith", and

the one condition for the obtaining of salvation, justification or life is "faith", and in a

world where all was perfect and ideal "faith" and "trust" would be but two sides of one

state or attitude. In the everyday outworking of truth, however, honesty compels us to

admit that a person may be a believer and be saved by grace, yet at the same time not

always and completely trusting the Lord. As an illustration, Abraham "believed" in the

Lord and his faith was counted for righteousness--yet in spite of this we find him in

Gen. 20: 1-18 resorting to the same deceitful measures that he had previously employed

regarding Sarah and the Egyptians (Gen. 12: 10-20). "Trust", therefore, is not always

commensurate with "faith", although, as we have said, most certainly it should be.

In moments of great peril, or after long testing and trial, the believer sometimes

echoes the words of David, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul"

(I Sam. 28: 1), yet both David and the believer today would, at the same time and

with the same breath, maintain the inspiration of God's Word and His utter and eternal

faithfulness. At the time of writing this series of short articles peril is on every hand, and

it is with a view to strengthen faith, in its intimate and personal sense of committal or

"trust", that these words are written.

In the absence of specific scriptural definition of "trust", there is no surer way of

arriving at an understanding of the term than an examination of the different words

translated by it and of the way in which these are used. There are seven words used in

the O.T. Scriptures which have been translated "trust", and observance of their peculiar

meanings will form the basis of this first article of the series.

We should hardly think of going to the record of Israel's unbelief and murmuring in

Numb. 11: to discover the first meaning of "trust", but in it mention is made of the

"melons" which they ate in Egypt, and in the original the name of this fruit is "The

Clinger", by reason of its manner of growth, and it is this word that provides the most

important of the seven that are translated "trust": "They that know Thy name will put

their trust in (or cling to) Thee" (Psa. 9: 10). About ninety of the occurrences of the

word in the O.T. are translations of this word.

The second word is more obvious; it is "shelter" or "refuge", as in the passage:

"Thou hast been a shelter for me" (Psa. 61: 3), or, "God is our refuge and strength"

(Psa. 46: 1). This provides the word translated "trust" in over thirty occurrences, as,

for example, "He is a buckler to all them that trust in Him" (II Sam. 22: 31). "Trust"

therefore may "cling", in conscious weakness, or "shelter", in time of stress.