Trust

Introduction – An Important Part of Any Relationship

What do you think is the most important ingredient of any healthy and functional relationship? (p) Any type of relationship at all… It could be a romantic relationship. It could be a workplace relationship, either between colleagues or between a supervisor and a subordinate. Or perhaps a sporting relationship, between teammates or between a player and a coach.

What ingredient is common across all those types of relationships and absolutely vital if any of them are going to be healthy and thriving? (p) It’s trust, right?

Trust is essential in romantic relationships. Trust enables honesty and the sharing of intimate information. Trust facilitates feelings of security because both partners in the relationship know they can rely on the other.

Trust is similarly important in workplace relationships. Trust between colleagues and between a supervisor and subordinates allows for efficient collaboration and promotes a healthy and productive workplace culture. On the flip side, it can be like swimming against the current when a team member can’t be trusted to make meaningful contributions or meet deadlines, or when a boss is micromanaging you by constantly peering over your shoulder.

Equally, trust goes a long way towards sports teams being successful. When each player in a team can be trusted to do their job and be in the right place at the right time, points are scored and trophies are won.

And for all these reasons, lots of effort must be directed towards building trust in the early stages of these relationships. It’s why when new teams are put together, they often do ice-breaking exercises such as trust falls to kickstart the trust-building process.

And if trust is so important in all these human relationships, how much more important is it that a relationship with God be characterised by trust? If we need to trust the people we live, work, and play with, how much more do we need to trust the God who holds the whole world in his hands?

Context – Psalm 145 with the Book of Psalms

As I trust is obvious by now, the Psalm genre we are looking at today is trust. But before we dive into exploring the genre of trust Psalms, let’s pause to orientate Psalm 145 within the book of Psalms as a whole.

As the superscription at the beginning of the psalm tells us, Psalm 145 is a psalm of David. David is the most prolific of the biblical psalm writers, being credited as the author of 73 psalms.

But as you can see on the screen, the psalms of David are not equally spread out throughout the book. Books 1 and 2 are littered with Davidic psalms. Then in contrast, we hardly hear a peep from David in books 3 and 4. Then in Book 5, the voice of David reemerges and there is a final flurry of 8 Davidic psalms from Psalm 138 to 145. So then, in a book in which he contributed almost half of all the Psalms, Psalm 145 comes as David’s final word.

This is significant because when we consider the genre of trust in the psalm book, here too we strongly see David’s contribution. On the screen, I’ve identified 13 psalms as falling under the genre of trust. 10 of these psalms were authored by David, only the 3 underlined psalms were not.

To explain the difference in colours between the psalms on the screen, and apologies to anyone who is colour blind, the different colours represent different types of trust psalms.

The 6 psalms coloured salmon pink – Psalms 11, 16, 28, 31, 91, 121 – share a common feature of finding protection and safety in God. The language of God as my refuge, my rock, my salvation, my shield, is common across these psalms as primarily David expresses his trust in God to protect him from his enemies.

In a similar vein yet with a slight difference, the 3 psalms that are light blue – Psalms 23, 27, 56 – share a common feature of David having no fear because his trust is in God. I’m sure many of you are familiar with and have taken great comfort from these famous words from Psalm 23:4

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

(p) Then the 3 bright pink psalms – Psalms 37, 62, 115 – are different from the previous psalms in that they are not the psalmist expressing their trust in God, but rather the author inviting the reader or listener to place their trust in God.

And then in the centre, in a category of its own, is today’s reading – Psalm 145. As well as telling us that Psalm 145 is a psalm of David, the superscription also categorises it as a psalm of praise. And given that both the opening verse and the final verse describe God’s name being praised forever and ever, a psalm of praise is a fitting description. Yet what I hope to show you today is that Psalm 145 is indeed a psalm of trust that opens and concludes with praise, because praise is an appropriate response to a trustworthy and faithful God.

We pick up this idea most strongly from Psalm 145:13, which stands both physically and thematically at the centre of this psalm. It says:

“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”

Here is our key idea for today. The LORD God is trustworthy in all he promises, and faithful in all he does. I’ll say that again. The LORD God is trustworthy in all he promises, and faithful in all he does.

That’s a big, bold statement to make. But as all the teachers in the room very well know, you can’t just make bold statements. You also have to show your working out. Show the evidence that supports the final answer.

And that’s exactly what this psalm does. Verse 13 stands both physically and thematically at the centre of the psalm, and both what comes before verse 13 as well as what comes after it gives us the details, the evidence, for why God is trustworthy and faithful.

In the first half of the psalm, the emphasis falls on God as being ‘Trustworthy in his great deeds’ and in the second half of the psalm, the emphasis shifts to God being ‘Trustworthy to meet your needs’. So let’s explore those two ideas. First ‘Trustworthy in his great deeds’ and then ‘Trustworthy to meet your needs’.

Teaching Point 1 – Trustworthy in his great deeds (v3-12)

Follow along with me as I read verses 4 to 6 again:

4 One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. 5 They speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty—and I will meditate on your wonderful works. 6 They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds.

Two key ideas dominate these verses, works and words. The first – God’s works, his acts, his deeds – they’re mighty, wonderful, awesome and great! And the second is that people, particularly future generations, they must know about God’s mighty works. God’s great deeds must be told, spoken of, commended and proclaimed to all who are willing to hear.

I hope that highlighting these action nouns and speaking verbs on the screen helpfully illustrates how the two ideas of deeds and words are repeated in these verses. And for the Old Testament people of God who were the original audience of King David, my impression is that this emphasis on deeds and words would have immediately drawn their minds to one place – the book of Exodus.

Consider the words God spoke to Moses in Exodus 6:6:

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.”

Here God promises Moses that through his mighty acts – the same words as Psalm 145 – he will redeem the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to make them his own people. And God does indeed prove that you he is trustworthy. He demonstrates that his word can be trusted; that when he says something, he does it.

God’s mighty acts of judgment are then displayed in the 10 plagues that befall the Egyptians and sweep over every aspect of their physical and spiritual lives. God’s wonderful works then continue as he parts the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to cross through on dry land and escape the pursuing Egyptian army. God then continues his great deeds by providing bread from heaven and water from rocks to meet his people’s daily needs.

And as God performs each of these mighty acts, the response he requires from his people is… trust. Trust that the blood of the Passover lambs would keep them safe during the final plague. Trust that the walls of water to their left and right would not come crashing down on their heads as they passed through the Red Sea. And collecting only enough manna for each day required trust that God would provide again tomorrow.

And so time and time again, God demonstrated to his people that he is trustworthy in his great deeds. And attached to all these mighty acts was an imperative to remember them and to educate future generations about them, so that future generations may likewise place their trust in the trustworthy God capable of great deeds. And this proclamation of God’s great deeds from one generation to the next is exactly what we see happening in Psalm 145.

Application – From One Generation to the Next

I think there are two points worthy of reflection to draw out from this. The first is to recognise and appreciate the people who have proclaimed God’s great deeds to each of us.

Whether you’re not yet a Christian, or you have been a Christian for a short time or a long time, I suggest that you are here today because someone, or very likely many someones, have invested in you and endeavoured to educate you about God’s awesome works and how he is worthy of your trust.

They’ve done exactly what this Psalm says and commended God’s mighty acts from one generation to the next. And so this week, can I suggest that you do something to recognise and appreciate the people who have invested in you in this way? It could be as simple as a text message or a phone call… will you make a note or set a reminder to do that this week?

(p) The second point worthy of reflection is that just as prior generations have proclaimed God’s trustworthiness to us, the relay baton doesn’t stop with us. The next generation needs to know. We need to proclaim God’s great deeds to them so they may learn to place their trust in him.

As the Pastor overseeing our children’s and families' ministries here, it’s my great joy and privilege to be set aside for exactly this type of work. And I’m extremely thankful for the dedicated team of volunteers we have who serve so faithfully in this space and have been teaching the kids about God’s mighty acts from the book of Exodus over the past month.

But as the plural language of Psalm 145 suggests, the task of declaring God’s great deeds to the next generation is a task that belongs to all of God’s people, to the church. To the family of God, made up of not only biological parents but also metaphorical older brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and grandparents too. Those not related by our blood but by the blood of Christ.

So then, might you consider what role you can play in proclaiming God’s wonderful works to the next generation? Of helping them place their trust in the awesome God who shows that he is trustworthy in his great deeds.

Teaching Point 2 – Trustworthy to meet your needs (v14-20)

(P) God is trustworthy in his great deeds, Psalm 145 verses 3 to 12. In the second half of the Psalm, verses 14 to 20, the emphasis shifts to God as trustworthy to meet your needs. Trustworthy to meet your needs.