Trusting in the Lord

Old Testament

And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace." And the Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea."  

Psalm 37:3, 5, 23, 24, 34

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass…
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the Lord upholds him with His hand…
Wait on the Lord, And keep His way.

He who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.

As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. God is my strength and power, And He makes my way perfect.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him will I trust…. He shall cover you with His feathers, Under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

The New Testament

“I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father know that you need all these things.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow….”

“Have faith in God…. I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

“These are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

“Lo, I am with you always.”

The Heavenly Doctrines

Trust in the Lord

Peace holds within itself trust in the Lord, the trust that He governs all things and provides all things, and that He leads towards an end that is good. When a person believes these things about Him he is at peace, since he fears nothing and no anxiety about things to come disturbs him. How far a person attains this state depends on how far he attains love to the Lord. Everything bad, especially trust in self, takes away the state of peace.

The universal of the Christian faith on the part of a person is that he should believe in the Lord. For by believing in Him conjunction with Him is effected, and this is the means of salvation. To believe in the Lord is to have trust that He will save, and because no one can have such trust but he who lives a good life, this also is meant by believing on Him.

When the Lord is with someone He leads him and makes provision so that all that happens, whether sad or joyful, may bring him what is good.

It is an eternal truth that the Lord rules over heaven and earth, also that no one apart from the Lord is self-existent, consequently that all life flows in—life filled with goodness flowing in from the Lord, life filled with evil flowing in from hell. This is what they believe in the heavens; and when a person shares this belief, which he is able to do when he is governed by good, evil cannot be attached to him or be accepted by him as his own because he knows that it does not originate in himself but in hell. When this is a person’s state, peace can be granted to him, for he trusts solely in the Lord. Nor can peace be granted to anyone else but those who have that faith springing from charity; for others constantly plunge themselves into anxious cares and evil desires that give rise to feelings of unease.

“Stand firm and see the salvation of Jehovah” means salvation from the Lord alone and not at all from themselves. This is clear from the meaning of “standing firm and seeing” as faithfully believing, and from the meaning of “the salvation of Jehovah” as salvation from the Lord…. The person who believes when he is tempted that he has strength of his own with which he can offer resistance goes under. The reason is that he ascribes merit to himself; and in doing this he claims that he himself accomplishes his salvation, in which case he shuts out influx from the Divine. But the person who believes that the Lord alone offers resistance in temptations is victorious, for he is guided by the truth and ascribes merit to the Lord; and he perceives that his salvation is accomplished by the Lord alone.

A shield symbolizes the Lord’s protection against evil and our trust in His protection.

Those who trust in the knowledge of the natural man, thus in their own intelligence, lead themselves astray. The Lord turns Himself to those who trust in Him.

Divine providence is overall, that is, it is present within the smallest details of all, and that people in the stream of providence are being carried along constantly towards happier things, whatever appearance the means may present. Those in the stream of providence are people who trust in the Divine and ascribe everything to Him. But those not in the stream of providence are people who trust in themselves alone and attribute everything to themselves; theirs is a contrary outlook, for they take providence away from the Divine and claim it as their own. It should be recognized also that to the extent that anyone is in the stream of providence he is in a state of peace; and to the extent that anyone is in a state of peace by virtue of the good of faith, he is in Divine providence. These alone know and believe that the Lord’s Divine providence resides within every single thing, indeed within the smallest details of all, as well as that Divine providence has what is eternal in view.

Concern for the Morrow

Those who are in a state of genuine innocence are not anxious about the future. Anxiety about the future they call care for the morrow, which they define as grief on account of losing or not receiving things that are not necessary for the uses of life…. As they love nothing more than to be led by the Lord, attributing to Him all things that they receive, they are removed from their own proprium. And to the extent that they are so removed from their own proprium the Lord inflows.

[T]hat the manna was given every morning and that worms bred in what was left over, means that the Lord provides people’s requirements every day and that for this reason they ought not to be anxious to acquire them of themselves. The same thing is meant by daily bread in the Lord’s Prayer.

Concern for the morrow does not mean concern about obtaining food and clothing for oneself, and also resources for the future. For it is not contrary to order to make provision for oneself and one’s dependents. But people are concerned about the morrow when they are not content with their lot, do not trust in God but in themselves, and only have worldly and earthly things in view, not heavenly ones. These people are ruled completely by anxiety over the future, and by the desire to possess all things and exercise control over all other people. That desire is kindled and grows greater and greater, till at length it is beyond all measure.

Those who trust in the Divine are altogether different. Though concerned about the morrow, yet are they unconcerned. They are not anxious, let alone worried, when they give thought to the morrow. They remain even-tempered whether or not they realize desires, and they do not grieve over loss; they are content with their lot. If they become wealthy they do not become infatuated with wealth. If they are promoted to important positions they do not consider themselves worthier than others. If they become poor they are not made miserable either. If lowly in status they do not feel downcast. They know that for those who trust in the Divine all things are moving towards an everlasting state of happiness, and that no matter what happens at any time to them, it contributes to that state.

Prudence

If a person did not manage all the concerns of his function and life as though by his own human prudence, he could not be led and directed by Divine providence. For he would be like someone standing with hands hanging limp, mouth open, and eyes closed, holding his breath and awaiting influx. Thus he would strip himself of his humanity, which he has from the perception and sensation that he lives, thinks, wills, speaks and acts as though of himself, and strip himself at the same time then of his two faculties, freedom and rationality…. If you wish to be led by Divine providence, therefore, use prudence as a servant or assistant who faithfully manages the goods of his lord.

Divine providence is present in the least particulars of nature and in the least particulars of human prudence, and because of its presence in these it is universal.

Those with the contrary outlook are scarcely willing to allow any mention of providence. Instead they put every single thing down to prudence; and what they do not put down to prudence they put down to fortune or to chance. Some put it down to fate, which they do not ascribe to the Divine but to natural forces.

Those who acknowledge God and His Divine providence are like angels in heaven, who are averse to leading themselves and love to be led by the Lord. A sign that they are led by the Lord is their loving the neighbor. In contrast, those who acknowledge their own prudence are like spirits in hell, who are averse to being led by the Lord and love to lead themselves.

Worry About the Future

Worries about the future, when these are compounded by the way such people act [becoming grasping and avaricious], seriously impair and slow down the inflow of spiritual life. This is because these people assign to themselves that which is the business of Divine Providence, and those who do this…cut themselves off from the life of goodness and truth.

Conjecture about things to come, and the memory of things past, take away all the pleasantness of life and happiness. They cause worry, cares, anxiety.

Since a foreknowledge of future events takes away fundamental humanity, which is to act in freedom in accordance with one’s reason, therefore it is granted to no one to know the future. But it is permitted everyone to employ his reason to form conclusions about things to come. Reason with all its constituents is then engaged in its life. It is because of this that a person does not know his lot after death…. For if he were to know, he would no longer consider in his inner self how he should act or live in order to arrive at it…. A desire to know the future is innate in most people, but it is a desire that takes its origin from a love of evil. Consequently it is taken away from people who put their trust in Divine providence, and they have imparted to them a confidence that the Lord is directing their lot, so that they do not wish to know it beforehand lest in some way they inject themselves into Divine providence.

[T]he more interior and perfect angels are the less do they care about things of the past or think about those of the future, and that this is also the origin of their happiness. They have said that the Lord provides them every moment with what to think, accompanied by blessing and happiness, and that this being so they have no cares and no worries. This is the inner meaning of the manna being received ‘day by day’ from heaven, the ‘daily [provision] of bread’ in the Lord’s Prayer, and the statement that they must not worry about what they are to eat and drink, or what clothes they are to put on. But although angels have no care about things of the past and are not worried about those of the future they nevertheless have a most perfect recollection of things of the past and a most perfect insight into those of the future.

Cares of the World and Anxiety

No one who is moved by the affection for good and truth is able when he is living in the world to perceive the happiness of eternal life, but only a certain delight instead. The reason why he is unable to do so is that he is confined to the body, and when confined in the body he is subject to worldly cares and as a consequence to anxieties. These prevent the happiness of eternal life, which is inwardly present in him, being manifested in any other way. For when that happiness passes from the inward parts of his being into cares and anxieties which reside in his outward parts, it sinks into the cares there and the anxieties, and becomes a kind of obscure delight. Nevertheless it is a delight that holds blessedness within it, and happiness within that. Being content in God constitutes such happiness. But once a person casts aside the body, and at the same time those worldly cares and anxieties, the happiness which has been so lying hidden in obscurity within his more internal person comes forward and reveals itself.

Contentment

[T]hose who are in a state of genuine innocence attribute nothing of good to themselves, but regard all things as received and attribute them to the Lord. Also they wish to be led by Him and not by themselves. They love everything that is good and they delight in everything that is true, because they know and perceive that loving what is good, that is, willing and doing it, is loving the Lord, and that loving truth is loving the neighbor. They live contented with what they have, whether it be little or much, because they know that they receive just as much as is good for them—those receiving little for whom little is useful, and those receiving much for whom much is useful. They also recognize that they themselves do not know what is good for them, the Lord alone knowing this, for in all things that He provides He looks to eternal ends.

An atmosphere of innocence flows into little children, and through them into the parents so as to affect them.... All that they receive they attribute to their parents. They are content with the little things they are given as gifts. They do not worry about their food and clothing, and are not anxious about the future. They do not pay regard to the world and covet many things on account of it…. They allow themselves to be guided; they listen and obey.