How is Trust Vertical and Horizontal?
When you run into an issue that you can’t solve or hit a life-altering event that stops you in your tracks, you need to know there is someone who is able to help, comfort, and see you through this difficult event. Our vertical help comes from the Lord. Psalm 121:2 My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. And Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” If we trust Him, He can be our help. But the question is, will we trust Him to help us? So many times we depend on our own strength – our own wisdom. He tells us to call upon Him when we are in trouble.
Watch this week’s trust minute to dive deeper into the importance of vertical trust in God and how horizontal trust plays a part in our lives as well.
We need to realize how big our God is so we can depend on Him when we need help. He is a comforter, an encourager, a provider if we will come to Him and pray and seek His face.
Horizontal trust is the need to trust others to help us when we have a need or run into something that we can’t handle. But why don’t we trust people? Why is it so hard to delegate a task to someone, to let go and get help?
There are many reasons, but I think one of the biggest ones it that we have been hurt, rejected, or let down by someone. We are fearful this person who we want to trust will blow it or will not do what we expect. Maybe they will let us down. Therefore, I will just do it myself. I will trust Simmon and Garfunkel theology which says, “I am a rock, I am an island. I will touch no one, and no one touches me.” The only problem with this is it does not work. We can’t touch anyone. We need to learn to trust those around us to do things we can’t do for ourselves. We actually do this all the time.
Think about it. We trust the airplane pilot; we trust the food we eat that it will not poison us, etc. The difference in our vertical trust and horizontal trust is that God is always true, always faithful, always reliable. People are not. They do hurt us and let us down. This is why it is so important to put our trust in the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
As we talk more about how to trust others and God once our trust has been broken, we will learn that if we trust ultimately in God we will have a peace which the Bible says, “will pass all understanding”.
So, try it. Trust Him who is faithful and see if it won’t change your life.
The Philips translation says:
“But Jesus, on his side, did not trust himself to them—for he knew them all. He did not need anyone to tell him what people were like: he understood human nature.” John 2:24