Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and he will make your path straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
In the King James Version of the Bible, the word trust appears 188 times. Over a third of those occurrences (68) are in the book of Psalms. What was it about David’s life that he becomes an icon of what it means to trust in the Lord? And become the most beloved and trustworthy King of Israel.
I believe King David role models for Christians that TRUST is about WHO we trust in, not what we trust in. Listen to his words to King Saul as he volunteered to fight Goliath.
David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, and struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” 1st Samuel 17
As Christians, we whole-heartedly trust in God, for:
His Truth is Sincere
His Spirit is Competent
His Promises are Reliable
His Word is Credible
His Love is Empathy
His Incarnation, His Ministry, His Resurrection, His Communion with us is His Integrity
And so, from the shepherd boy who became a beloved King, we are given the treasured Psalm: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. As the sheep trust the shepherd for their whole lives, so David trusted the Living God. We too, as Joyful Leaders, trust completely in the Living God, thus becoming a beacon of refuge for those we lovingly lead.