They who know God's name

And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. Psalm 9:10

King David is speaking from experience here; he is arguing that those who seek the Lord will find that God will not forsake them. Again and again, David had found this to be true in his own life, and God's faithfulness to him gave him reasons to continually put his trust in the Lord. When he thought back to the incidents of the lion and the bear when he was a lowly shepherd boy, he saw God's faithfulness to him. When he thought about the battle with Goliath, he was reminded of God's faithfulness to him. When he thought about all the ups and downs in the days when he had to hide from King Saul, he had more proofs of God's faithfulness to him. Of course, David had many hardships, but through them all God was with him and delivered him. And all this encouraged David to put his trust in God.

In this you see that faith is not belief apart from evidence. It is not blind. Rather, faith in God has many foundations and reasons to believe in him. One great reason is that God does not in fact forsake those who put their trust in him.

What about us? Can we not say that when we sought the Lord, he heard us? Can we not look back on our lives and see time and again the love and mercy and grace and faithfulness of God to us? It is good for us to do this, to think back on how good God has been to us. It is when we forget this that the thought begins to creep into our mind that maybe God is not trustworthy after all. Let us then, like David, remember all the ways that the Lord has not forsaken us when we sought him, and we will say with him that those who know God's name will put their trust in him.

Of course, the greatest proof of this is the cross and the empty tomb. On the cross, the Son of God bore our sins by dying for us, and then rising from the dead rose triumphant over death, hell, and the grave. God has not forsaken us, because he will never forsake his Son. He did not forsake his Son when he stood in our place on the cross, and he will not forsake us in the future for our Lord still stands in our place before the throne interceding for us. All who are united to Christ by faith can say with David that the Lord will never forsake those who seek him. Let us therefore who know God's name - the blessed name of Father, Son, and Spirit (Mt. 28:19) - put our trust this day in him.