TRUST IN THE LORD - Robert Murray Mcchene
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”—PROV iii., 5.
WHEN an awakened soul is brought to God to believe on Jesus, he enjoys for the first time that calm and blessed state of mind which the Bible calls peace in believing. The sorrows of death were compassing him, and the pains of hell getting hold on him; but now he can say: “Return unto thy rest, O my soul.” It is not to be wondered at, that when this heaven upon earth is first realized in the once anxious bosom, the young believer should often imagine that heaven is already gained, and that he has bid farewell to sin and sorrow for evermore. But, alas! it may need but the passing away of one little day to convince him that heaven is not yet gained, that though the Red Sea may be passed, yet there ;s a wide howling wilderness to pass through, and many an enemy to be overcome, before the soul can enter into the land of which it is said, that “the people are all righteous.
The first breath of temptation from without, or the first rise of corruption from within, awakens new and strange anxieties within the believing bosom. He had just put on the breastplate of the Redeemer’s righteousness, but these noxious vapors tarnish and bedim its burnished steel. Alas! he cries, what good will it do me to be rid of all accusations from past sins, if I am not secure from raising up new accusers in the days to come? What good will the forgiveness of past sins do me, if, every step of my life, I am to fall into new sin?
The young believer in this state of mind is just like a traveller in the midst of a dangerous wood. He has been brought into a place of perfect security for the present. He can hear the cry of the wolves behind him without the least alarm, for he is brought into a fortress, a strong tower, where he is safe; but when he thinks of his further journey, when he remembers that he is still in the midst of the wood, and still far from home, alas! he knows not how to move; he knows not which path will lead him right, and which will lead him wrong. When the lost sheep was found
by the good shepherd, it was safe in that moment, as safe as if it were already in the fold; and yet it was doubtless in great perplexity how to get back again, it had wandered so far over the mountains, and down into the valleys, and across the brooks, and through the thorny brakes, that it was impossible the bewildered sheep could find its way back; and therefore it is said that the good shepherd laid it on his shoulder rejoicing.
And just so it is with the soul that is found by Christ. Washed in his blood, he may feel as secure and as much at peace’ as if he were already in heaven; but when he looks to the thousand entanglements in the midst of which he has wandered, the evil habits, the evil companions that lay snares for him on every hand, alas! he is forced to cry: How shall I walk in such a world as this? I thought I was saved; but, alas! I am only saved to be lost again. So real and so painful is this state of mind, that some young believers have actually wished to die that they might be rid of these tormenting anxieties. But there is a far more excellent way pointed out in the words before us:
” Trust in the Lord with all thine heart:
And lean not to thine own understanding
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
And he shall direct thy paths.”
This is a word in season to the bewildered believer; and “a word spoken in due season, how good is it!”
First of all, Consider what this grace is that is here recommended; “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.”
When the Philippian jailer cried out: “What must I do to be saved?” the simple answer was: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” His great anxiety was to escape from under the wrath of the God of the earthquake; and, therefore, they simply pointed to the bleeding Lamb of God. He looks to Jesus doing all that we should have done, and suffering all that we should have suffered; and while he looks, his anxiety is healed, and a sweet heavenly peace springs up within, the peace of believing. But the inquirer who is spoken to in the text is one who already enjoys the peace of a justified man, but wants to know how he may enjoy the peace of a sanctified man. A new anxiety hath sprung up within his bosom, as to how he shall order his steps in the world; and unless this anxiety also can be healed, it is to be feared his joy in believing will be sadly interrupted. How seasonable then, is the word which points at once to the remedy! and how amazing is the simplicity of the Gospel method of salvation, when the soul is directed just to look again to Jesus: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.” When you came to us weary and heavy laden with guilt, we pointed you to Jesus; for he is the Lord our righteousness. When you come to us again, groaning under the power of indwelling sin, we point you again to Jesus; for he is the Lord our strength. It is the true mark of a false and ignorant physician of bodies, when to every sufferer, whatever be the disease, he applies the same remedy. But it is the true mark of a good and faithful physician of souls, when, to every sick and perishing soul, in every stage of the disease, he brings the one, the only remedy, the only balm in Gilead.
Christ was anointed not only to bind up the broken-hearted, but also to proclaim liberty to the captives; so that, if it be good and wise to direct the poor broken-hearted sinner, who has no way of justifying himself, to Jesus, as his righteousness, it must be just as food and wise to direct the poor believer, groaning under the bondage of corruption, having no way to sanctify himself, to look to Jesus as his wisdom, his sanctification, his redemption. Thou hast once looked unto Jesus as thy covenant head, bearing all wrath, fulfilling all righteousness in thy stead, and that gave thee peace; well, look again to the same Jesus as thy covenant head, obtaining by his merits gifts for men, even the promise of the Father, to shed down on all his members; and let that also give thee peace. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.” Thou hast looked to Jesus on the cross, and that gave thee peace of conscience; look to him now upon the throne, and that will give thee purity of heart. I know of but one way in which a branch can be made a leafy, healthy, fruit-bearing branch; and that is by being grafted into the vine, and abiding there. And just so I know of but one way in which a believer can be made a holy, happy, fruitful child of God; and that is by believing in Jesus, abiding in him, walking in him, being rooted and built up in him.
And observe it is said; “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart* When you believe in Jesus for righteousness, you must cast away all your own claims for pardon; your own righteousness must be filthy rugs in your eyes; you must come empty, that you may go away full of Jesus. And just so, when you trust in Jesus for strength, you must cast away all your natural notions of your own strength; you must feel that your own resolutions, and vows, and promises, are as useless to stem the current of your passions, as so many straws would be in stemming the mightiest waterfall. You must feel that your own firmness and manliness of disposition, which has so long been the praise of your friends and the boast of your own mind, are as powerless, before the breath of temptation, as a broken reed before the hurricane. You must feel that you wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with spirits of gigantic power, in whose mighty grasp you are feeble as a child; then, and then only, will you come with all your heart to trust in the Lord your strength. When the believer is weakest, then a he strongest. The child that knows most its utter feebleness, entrusts itself most completely into the mother’s arms. The young eagle that knows, by many a fall, its own inability to .fly, yields itself to be carried on the mother’s mighty wing. When it is weak, then it is strong; and just so the believer, when he has found out, by repeated falls, his own utter feebleness, clings with simplest faith, to the arm of the Saviour—leans on his Beloved, coming up out of the wilderness, and hears with joy the word: “My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
But secondly, Consider how this grace of trusting hinders the believer from leaning to his own understanding.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
And lean not to thine awn understanding.”
Well may every soul that is untaught by the Spirit of God exclaim: “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?” and, indeed, there is perhaps no truth that calls forth more of the indignant opposition of the world than this blessed one—that they who trust in the Lord with all their heart, do not lean to their own understanding. The understanding, here, plainly includes all the observing, knowing, and judging faculties of the mind, by which men ordinarily guide themselves in the world; and, accordingly, it is with no slight appearance of reasonableness that the world should brand with the name of fanatics a peculiar set of men, who dare to say that they are not to lean upon these faculties, to guide them in their every-day walk and conversation.
But surely it might do something to moderate, at least, the opposition of the world (if they would but listen to us), to tell them that we never refuse to be guided by the understanding, although we altogether refuse to lean upon it. Every enlightened believer however implicitly he depends upon the breathing of the Holy Ghost, without whose almighty breathing he knows that his understanding would be but a vain and useless machine, leading him into darkness, and not into light, yet follows the guidance of the understanding as scrupulously and as religiously as any unconverted man is able to do; and, therefore, it ought never to be said by any man who has a regard for truth, that the believer in Jesus casts aside the use of his understanding, and looks for miraculous guidance from on high. The truth is this, that he trusts in a divine power, enlightening the understanding, and he therefore follows the dictates of the understanding more religiously than any other man.
When a man comes to be in Christ Jesus, he becomes a new creature, not only in heart, but in understanding also. The history of the world, the history of missions, and individual experience, fully prove this; and it may not be difficult to point out what may be called natural reasons for the change.
1. When a man becomes a believer, a new and untried field is opened up for the understanding to penetrate into. It is true that unconverted men have made dives into the character of God, his government, his redemption. But the unconverted man never can gaze on these things with the love of one interested in them; and, therefore, he cannot know them at all; for God must be loved in order to be known. But reconcile a man to God, and the intelligence springs forward with a power unfelt before, and feels that this is life eternal, to know God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. And,
2. When a man becomes a believer, he enters into every pursuit impelled by heavenly affections. Before, he had none but earthly motives to impel him to gather knowledge; but now a holy inquisitiveness is instilled into his mind, and a retentiveness which he never had before. He looks with new eyes upon the fields, the woods, the hills, the broad resplendent rivers, and says: “My Father made them all.”
But if these are natural reasons for the change, there is one supernatural reason which is greater than all. The believer’s understanding is new; for the Spirit of God is now a dweller in his bosom. He leans upon this almighty guest—trusts in the Lord the Spirit—with all his heart, and leans not to his own understanding. In the Prophet Hosea, the gift of the Spirit is compared to dew: “I will be as the dew unto Israel.” Now, it is peculiarly true of the dew that it moistens everything where it falls; it leaves not one leaf unvisited; there is not a tiny blade of grass on which its diamond drops do not descend; every leaf and stem of the bush is burdened with the precious load; just so it is peculiarly true of the Spirit, that there is not a faculty, there is not an affection, a power, or passion of the soul, on which the Spirit does not descend—working through all, refreshing, reviving, renewing, recreating all. And if we are really in Christ Jesus, abiding in him by faith, we are bound to expect this supernatural power to work through our understanding; for if we be not led by the Spirit, we are none of his. But the more implicitly we lean on this loving Spirit, is it not plain as day that we all the more implicitly follow the guidance of our understanding? We do not lean upon our own understanding; for we lean upon the Spirit of grace and of wisdom, who is promised to guide us into all truth, and guide our footsteps in the way of peace. But we do not throw away our own understanding; because it is through that understanding alone that we look for the guidance of the Spirit.
In a mill where the machinery is all driven by water, the working of the whole machinery depends upon the supply of water. Cut off that supply, and the machinery becomes useless. Set on the water, and life and activity is given to all. The whole dependence is placed upon the outward supply of water; still, it is obvious that we do not throw away the machinery through which the power of the water is brought to bear upon the work. Just so in the believer, the whole man is carried on by the Spirit of Christ, else he is none of his. The working of every day depends upon the daily supply of the living stream from on high. Cut off that supply, and the understanding becomes a dark and useless lump of machinery; for the Bible says that unconverted men have the understanding darkened. Restore the divine Spirit, and life and animation is given to all—the understanding is made a new creature. Now, though the whole leaning or dependence here is upon the supply of the Spirit, still it is obvious that we do not cast away the machinery of the human mind, but rather honor it far more than the world.
Now, however difficult it may be to explain all this to the world, it is most beautiful to see how truly it is acted on by the simplest child of God.
If you could overhear some simple cottage believer at his morning devotions—how simply he brings himself in lost and condemned, and therefore cleaves to Jesus, the divine Saviour!— how simply he brings himself in dark, ignorant, unable to know his way—unable to guide his feet, his hands, his tongue, throughout the coming day; and, therefore, pleading for the promised Spirit to dwell in him to walk in him—to be as the dew upon his soul; and all this with the earnestness of a man who will not go away without the blessing you would see -what a holy contempt a child of God can put upon his own understanding, as a refuge to lean upon. But, again, if you could watch him in his daily walk—in the field and in the marketplace—among the wicked world, and see how completely he follows the guidance of a shrewd and intelligent mind, you would see with what a holy confidence a child of God can make use of the faculties which God hath given him; you would see the happy union of the deepest piety and the hardest painstaking; you would know the meaning of these words: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart: and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
Dundee Presbytery, 1836.