The words faith and trust are commonly used in Christian circles, sometimes interchangeably. But is faith the same thing as trust? The answer is no … though they’re similar and interrelated, they’re not quite synonymous.
Faith is a noun and a noun is a person, place, thing or idea. It’s something that we have. Faith is a firm belief.
Faith, however, is not trust. Trust is a verb — an action word. And that means it’s something that we do. Let me illustrate.
There’s a story about a pioneer who came to the Mississippi River on a cold winter night. There was no bridge in those days and he was afraid that the ice might be thin, so he crawled the entire way in fear, on his hands and knees.
He believed that to distribute his weight as much as possible would keep the ice from breaking.
Just as he reached the opposite shore, he heard the sound of singing behind him and out of the darkness came a man driving a horse-drawn wagon with a full load of coal crossing the ice and singing as he rode along.
Quite a contrast! A man crawling on his hands and knees, scared to death that the ice would not be strong enough to hold him … and a second man with a loaded wagon pulled by two horses joyfully going right by him.
Both men had adequate faith to endeavour crossing the river. However, the first man had very little trust (admittedly, his faith is also a little bit suspect), whereas the second man had an abundance of it.
Faith is a great thing. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
But trust is also amazing. Psalm 91:2 says, “I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ ”
Faith brings us to God, and allows us to say, “I believe in Him and I know He can.” Trust allows us to walk with God and to say, “I follow Him, and I know He will!”
Faith tends to precede trust and trust proves that faith is present.
In Genesis 12:1, Abraham, in faith heard the Lord say, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.”
Three verses later, we see that he also had trust because, “Abram departed as the Lord had instructed.”
When faith (something I have) comes together with trust (something I do) … well, this makes the difference between crawling fearfully on my hands and knees and travelling happily across the river of life.
Pastor Ross Helgeton is senior pastor at Erskine Evangelical Free Church.
— FAITH & REFLECTION