TRUST GOD, NOT TEST GOD
(4-minute read)
The Oxford dictionary defines trust as a "firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something". Conventional wisdom says that people need to prove that they are reliable and true to what they say they are before they can be trusted. We want proof of loyalty because no one likes to be taken in and get disappointed. But how much proof is enough before we allow ourselves to trust anyone?
We see from Exodus 15-17 and Numbers 14 that God, too, had to deal with the Israelites' problem of “trust deficit”. The Israelites often appeared undecided about God and how often they needed Him to prove His trustworthiness when hardships surfaced. They expected God to give them all they wanted, when they needed it and the way they liked it. They lost sight of the crucial fact that God had set them free from over four hundred years of slavery. Though life was hard, that was the only existence they ever knew. Freed from slavery, they were constantly negative, quick to accuse and always deflecting blame. Not surprisingly, they even created a god of their own invention.
What does deflection sound like? It’s blaming others (“What have you done to us…”). It’s accusatory (“Didn't we say to you…”). It’s guilt-tripping (“you have brought us out into this desert to starve…to die of thirst”). The Israelites persistently tested God; not once or twice but, by God’s record, ten times (Numbers 14:22).
How long will these people treat Me with contempt?
How long will they refuse to believe in Me?
In spite of all the signs I have performed among them?
(Numbers 14:11).
It’s easy to say, For crying out loud, how did they get it so wrong? Before we take the moral high ground as armchair critics, let's examine how we too can be tempted to test God without even knowing it.
1. When God’s Outcomes Don’t Look Favourable
Previously slaves controlled by Egyptian masters with unrealistic expectations, the Israelites were likely simple people hyper-focused on outcomes. They stumbled out of Egyptian slavery, fumbled in the new life, and grumbled whenever they faced a new challenge.
When we’re taking on a new role or transiting into a different life stage, it’s unwise to become obsessed with outcomes as a gauge for how well we’re adjusting in our new season. Instead of constantly flitting between options, we ought to put our confidence in God and learn to stay on the course that He has set us on.
2. When God Does Not Give Us What We Want
We erroneously say that God is ‘testing’ us whenever it seems like He is withholding what we think we need. When we relate with God on the basis of what He gives or withholds rather than seeking His perspective and gaining understanding of His Word, we treat Him like a cosmic bellhop we only have occasional short conversations with.
Earlier we saw that even though the Israelites had enjoyed God’s powerful emancipation and the provision of fresh manna and meat for forty years, they never grew in their understanding of Him. Thus, they were constantly anxious and uptight, and they never seem satisfied.
What does God want you to see about a conundrum, a relationship, a financial investment, a property or a job? Are you just waiting on God to deliver a fully packaged solution or is He waiting on you to unpack all that is at stake so that He can show you what to do?
3 When God Seems Slow To Answer Our Prayers
Today, we live such time conscious lives that we hold God to human standards of efficiency. We are intolerant of pauses between a need we bring to God and the answer that comes from Him. We want to create testimonies that don’t require laborious prayers and long waiting or we’ll turn to low-hanging fruits that are short in delivery.
However, in God’s Kingdom, trust does not mean fast, and a delay does not mean a denial. Not trusting God is to despise Him and treat Him with contempt.
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 03 September, 2022.
