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God Wants You To Trust Him
By Pastor William Cunningham
for August 20, 2006
Read Numbers 13 – 14 and Deuteronomy 1:21-46 for background information.
Introduction
We are going to discuss the practice of trusting God. In particular we are going to look at the Israelites plight in the wilderness as they were presented with a choice, namely to trust God or reject God.
We sometimes or perhaps many times are faced with the same choice. Do we trust God or do we reject Him. If we trust God then we will go forward with confidence that God will take care of us regardless of the situation. If we reject God then we will complain and even accuse God of abandoning us or other such accusations.
It is important that we trust God not only for our benefit, but because God wants us to. He has done so much for us that it would be silly to look at Him in the face, so to speak and reject Him. Let’s learn from the situation of the Israelites coming to the Promised Land to posses it.
Deuteronomy 1:21 (NKJV) -- {21} Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’
We all know the story of God delivering the Israelites from Egypt. We know that He gave them what is called the Promised Land (see Genesis 15:18-21, Deuteronomy 34:1-4, and Joshua 1:1-6). The important thing to consider here is that God had given them the land even though it was still inhabited. One can only assume that God would have provided a way for them to actually possess the land to call it their own.
Lesson #1 – Possessing what God gives may come later
We can learn from this very situation. God had already given them the land, but they had not possessed it yet. There obviously would have been something that they would have had to do even if it was merely to march in or something as God performed a miracle. We don’t know how it could have happened because the people took a different path as we will see soon.
So here we must realize that though something appears to be far off or even unlikely or impossible does not mean that God has not already provided it for you. Just because you don’t have it in your hands does not mean that it is not yours. If God has provided it then He will lead you too it. Pastor Ray Barnard of Impacting Your World Christian Center preached a sermon many years ago called, “Where God Guides, He provides.” That is so true. If God has guided you to a certain place then you can rest assured that He will provide for you in that place. It is up to us to believe Him and trust Him to do just that.
Deuteronomy 1:22-23 (NKJV) -- {22} “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’ {23} “The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.
Now here is where the problem begins. The people came to Moses requesting that spies be sent out to spy on the land that God said that He had given them. Now we have to wonder why they would do such a thing. However, we should realize that it is a common practice tactically to spy out your enemies when you are going to campaign against them. It is normal to get information about your enemies before you attack. However, was that necessary here since God said that He had given them the land? Did it really matter what the people were like? Should they have just depended on God to tell them what to do so that they would possess the Promised Land His way?
Another interesting point is that Moses went along with it in that He said the idea pleased him as well. Should Moses have stopped it and admonished the people to trust God and simply do what He says to do? In any case it is evident that God agreed with the plan of the people to send out spies.
Deuteronomy 1:24-25 (NKJV) -- {24} And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. {25} They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ‘It is a good land which the Lord our God is giving us.’
So the spies went out for about forty days to search out the land that God had given them. Remember that this is land that God had already given to them though they were not possessors of that land.
Now they received good news about the land from Caleb and Joshua, but very dire news from the other ten spies. See the situation in Numbers.
Numbers 13:26-33 (NKJV) -- {26} Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. {27} Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. {28} Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. {29} The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.” {30} Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” {31} But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” {32} And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. {33} There we saw the giants ( the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
This is very interesting dialog. One group of spies reported how strong the inhabitants were and how fortified the city was. They also reported that it was a good land (flows with milk and honey). They painted a bleak picture to the Israelites. It was a good land, but they were not able to posses it is what these faithless spies were saying.
However, Caleb (and Joshua) was ready to go and posses the land. He saw that they were stronger than the inhabitants of the land and were well able to overcome it. He knew that God was with them.
Numbers 14:1-4 (NKJV) -- {1} So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. {2} And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! {3} Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” {4} So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
These versed describe something that is most troubling. It not only shows their lack of faith in God, but it also shows how they turned on God. Not only did they not believe or trust that God had given them the Promised Land and would posses it, but they also accused God of trying to do them harm when the whole time God was trying to bless them.
Numbers 14:6-9 (NKJV) -- {6} But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; {7} and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. {8} If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ {9} Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”
Here we see a completely opposite attitude to the other ten spies. Caleb and Joshua perceived the whole situation through the eyes of faith. They were convinced that they would possess the land as long as God was with them. They responded to the situation with faith instead of doubt as the other ten spies responded.
Interestingly enough the people responded harshly to Joshua and Caleb’s words of encouragement. They were ready to stone them for the thing that they said above. That may sound strange, but we do that today. We sometimes respond and act in accordance to faithlessness instead of faith in God. We also mock those who act in faith regardless of how strange it may sound. We would sometimes like to quiet those who are speaking in faith so that we would wallow in our own faithlessness like the Israelite population at this time.
Lesson #2 – We respond to something based on the faith that we have in God
Our response to challenges in our life is greatly influenced by the amount of faith that we have in God. It is interesting that the amount of faith that we have in God at any given time is greatly affected by the faith we put in God in the past. God is faithful so there is no question as to whether he will come through for us or not because He always will. The question is whether or not we will trust Him and experience the faithfulness of God.
God’s Response to Faithlessness
Numbers 14:11-12 (NKJV) -- {11} Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? {12} I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
It is evident here that God does not like it when He is not trusted. The lack of trust leads to rebellion as we can see in this situation. The people chose not to trust in God and therefore rejected Him. However, Joshua and Caleb trusted that God would do what He said and were blessed to future generations.
The entire congregation except for Caleb and Joshua were banned from entering the Promised Land. Even Moses would not make it in. The people demonstrated that they did not trust God in their hearts. They rejected God. This is astonishing when we consider all that God had done for them in getting them out of Egypt. However, even those miracles and demonstration of God’s care for them was not enough to convince them of God’s love, protection, and care. They instead rejected the Lord God.
Caleb and Joshua trusted God. They trusted that God would do what He said that He would do and that they would possess the Promised Land. There faith in God resulted in them entering the Promised Land and experiencing the goodness and the glory of the Lord.
Another thing that I always find interesting is the fact that God didn’t have to do anything that He did with the Israelites. What I mean is that God was not obligated to deliver them from Egypt or give them the Promised Land. He did it because of His love and care for them and yet they still rejected Him.
Have you rejected God? Do you enter a challenge faithlessly or do you put your trust and confidence in the Lord? It is easy to enter a challenge with no faith and anticipate the worse outcome possible. It takes much more fortitude to trust God than it does to doubt Him.
Lesson #3 – God wants you to trust Him and doesn’t like when you doubt Him
Yes there are bad things that happen to people and there are good things that happen to people. However, God shows Himself faithful through them all. God wants you to trust Him. The consequence of that is that God wants to take care of you. He wants to be your God and your heavenly father. God wants you to trust Him as a young child would trust his parents. I don’t mean to trust Him only when trouble comes but all of the time. We can trust God for things like.
- Direction for our lives
- Direction for our careers
- Direction for marriage and family life
- Direction for a home, car, job, etc.
We can trust God for salvation most of all. How hurting it must be for someone to say to God that she doesn’t believe that God can save her or will save her when God sent Jesus Christ to die for her and everyone else. What if you did so much for someone only to have that person reject you?
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) -- {6} But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Do you diligently seek God? That is the key to faith and experiencing faith. Seek God first.
Conclusion
The Israelites rejected God as a result of their faithlessness. Instead of trusting God to care for them and do what He said He would do they rejected Him to follow their own plans fueled by fear. We should trust God for our very lives. We should trust God as we face challenges in our lives. We should trust God in normal everyday circumstances.
Not trusting God is akin to rejecting Him and could very well lead to just that. God wants us to trust Him so start doing it. Consider all that God has done for you in the past and allow that to fuel faith in Him for the future. Don’t allow fear to produce doubt, which could lead to rejecting God. Instead, allow your experiences with God produce faith in you. Amen.