Proverbs 29:25"The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted."What does it mean to trust God?One way to get at what it means is to be very clear about what it does not mean.1.) Trust is not the same as saying the right things about God.Solomon contrasts trusting God with fearing men. These two are opposites. Fearing man is obviously not just saying certain words about man. It is an attitude. It is a state of heart. And so is trust. When he says he who trusts in the Lord is safe he is not saying he who says the right things about the Lord is safe. In fact there are many places throughout Scripture where God rebukes those who are saying the right things about Him while there are hearts are far from Him.2.) Trust is not the same as simply wanting God to deliver you from a difficult situation.I doubt there is anyone who is in a dangerous situation and is frightened of man who would say they don't want God to help. I don't think there is anyone who would say 'no I really would prefer it if God didn't help.' But wanting deliverance from God is not the same thing as trusting Him.Example of that.Disciples with Jesus on a boat. Jesus is asleep. There's this big giant storm. And the disciples run straight to Jesus and ask for help. They want him to deliver them. But what does Jesus say? 'Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"Just wanting and even asking for Jesus' help was not the same thing as trusting Him.I have heard it illustrated like this.Imagine a fire breaks out in a home where a young boy is asleep on the upper floor. The boy's father and mother wake up and get all the children out but somehow they miss their one son. They don't realize he is still in the building. Once they do, the father runs back into the building to rescue his son but he can't make it up the stairs to his room because of the fire. Meanwhile the son wakes up and smells the smoke. He opens his bedroom door and is met by a wall of flames. He runs to the window. He looks down at the concrete three stories below. If he stays where he is, he will be burned to death. If he jumps he is afraid he will die from the fall. It looks hopeless until he sees his father, who rushes out of the house, holds out his arms, and shouts jump, I will catch you.Now here's the point.If the son knows that his father is strong enough to catch him, is knowing enough? Does simply knowing that make him safe? If the son knows that his father loves him and wants to catch him, does simply knowing that make him safe? Of course not. None of those things is enough to make him safe. He needs to commit himself to his father's arms. He needs to trust.3.) Trust is not the same as just assuming God will deliver you. There are people you meet who just assume God is for them. They don't have any real reason for thinking that. They just assume it. That's a dangerous thing you know because there is such a thing as false confidence. In fact throughout the Scripture we meet many different people who have a false sense of confidence about God and His attitude towards them. One that immediately comes to mind is the Pharisee in the story of the Pharisee and the Publican. You remember he stood in the temple and prayed and was so sure that God must have just been up in heaven loving how great he was, when in fact Jesus says, God hated his proud spirit.4.) Trust is not the same as feeling good when everything is going the way you like it.I think that's almost too obvious to say much about, but I know I sometimes feel like I am really trusting God when the reality is I am only feeling confident about things because things are going the way that I like. THAT'S NOT TRUST. I think it was Paul who said hope that is seen is not hope and the same goes for trust. Trust doesn't mean much if the only reason I am confident is because it makes sense to me. It doesn't mean anything actually if that's all there is to it.