Trusty Steed — Trustworthy Men & Women of God
While having my morning devotion yesterday, my eyes became fixed on the painting across my living area from me. I remember when my husband and I purchased that painting decades ago. We bought it because we saw King David (thus, the small bust of David that sits below the painting) and his muscle-bound, trusty steed and his majestic power that is being harnessed by David’s power. Restrained horsepower!
I looked up horsepower to see where that word came from. I found that when the steam engine began to do the work of horses in mines in the 1800s, the mine owners asked how many horses an engine would replace. James Watt (that guy whose name appears on our lightbulbs – watt/wattage), who invented steam engines, found a way to equate horses to engine power. Thus the term, horsepower. Watt measured the capability of a big horse to pull a load and found it could pull a weight of 150 pounds while walking at 2.5 miles per hour. That works out to 33,000 foot-pounds per minute or 550 foot-pounds per second. There you go. Now you know, too. You’re welcome!
Back to the trusty steed’s horsepower being harnessed by David’s power. Trust. Trustworthy. Steed (spirited and ready for war). The greatest use of the word, trust, is in this scripture. “TRUST in the Lord with all your heart…” Proverbs 3:5. Don’t we want to TRUST in others with all our hearts? I learned from caring for my grandson’s animals that I needed to gain their trust. I needed to be trustworthy.
I’m showing my age here but two of my favorite TV shows were Roy Rogers and The Lone Ranger. Roy Rogers trusty steed, Trigger”, would come to him when he whistled. He performed and showed up because he trusted Roy. The Lone Ranger saved his horse, Silver’s life from an enraged buffalo and, in gratitude, Silver chose to give up his wild life to carry him. We had a huge quarter horse “Brave” to help rustle up our cattle (We had 75 head of cattle. That story is for another day) and it took a little time to gain his trust but before long our little 5-year old daughter could ride him fearlessly.
Trust is a really big deal. We’ve heard it said, “They have ‘trust’ issues”. That’s because someone was untrustworthy. We’ve seen how marriages, partnerships, and friendships have been destroyed because someone proved they couldn’t be trusted.
Trust is defined as “Firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.” In these days, our core values need to be redefined. A relationship with a horse or another animal, and most importantly, with those people in our lives that we hold near and dear to our hearts, isn’t based on snuggles and hugs and kisses. It’s based upon trust. Not so much ours of them, though that is important. But more important is the horse’s trust, the loved one’s trust… in us. The horse can’t be talked into trust. Trust has to be proven to him. It is the same for us. Trust is proven over and over, day by day, lifetime by lifetime. “Trust the Lord with all your heart” is possible because time and again, God proves Himself trustworthy to us. Shouldn’t the words “Trust Donna or John or Cathy or Sam with all your heart” be the same because WE are trustworthy? If a horse can become a trusty steed to take into battle and be assured of victory, shouldn’t we be trusty/trustworthy men and women of God that are linked arm and arm with brothers and sisters to wage war on the enemy of our souls and WIN big? Shouldn’t trustworthiness be a priceless treasure and one of our top core values?