“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?’” (Numbers 14:11).
ONE MEASURE OF THE MATURITY OF OUR FAITH IS HOW MUCH WE TRUST GOD. If we believe in the existence of God, that is a good thing. But as believers, do we trust Him enough to do things His way when that path looks dangerous and difficult?
In Numbers 14, when the spies came back from their reconnaissance of the land of Canaan, all but two of them reported that it would not be possible for Israel to occupy the land. Discouraged, the nation wanted to reject Moses’ leadership and return to Egypt. That is when God pointed to the real problem: the people’s lack of trust in Him. “How long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?” They had not gotten the point of the miracles God had done to prove His dependability.
God’s character. If all we mean is that Israel accepted God’s existence, they were “believers.” But they showed, when the going got tough, that they were not believers in the sense of trusting God. In fact, God said, “How long will this people despise me?” Having thrown away everything God had demonstrated to them about His trustworthiness, they had little confidence in God’s character.
God’s promises. We call Canaan the “Promised Land” for a reason: God had promised it to Israel and powerfully confirmed His promise. They had seen God’s power in the plagues in Egypt, heard His thunderous voice from Sinai, and received His provision of manna in the wilderness. Nevertheless, they had no confidence that God would actually keep the promises He had made.
God’s commandments. Worst of all, Israel showed a lack of trust by refusing to obey what God had commanded. Here, perhaps, is the main area where we find out whether our faith has matured into trust: will we or won’t we do what God has said? We can deplore the lack of trust that caused Israel to back away from God’s command, but do we do any better? When it comes to obeying the gospel of Christ, do we trust the God we believe in enough to do what He has told us, confident that His wisdom is always best?
“Trustfulness is based on confidence in God, whose ways I do not understand. If I did, there would be no need for trust” (Oswald Chambers).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
