How strong is your faith? Have you ever had a problem trusting what God promises? What may we learn about trust and faith from the Israelites who spent 430 years in captivity in Egypt? How can anyone read the first four books of the Bible, Genesis to Numbers and wonder why these people were unable to trust God? Let’s review what they witnessed God do.

God spoke to Moses and told him to go to Egypt and: “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers —the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob —has sent me to you.’” “ And I (God) have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.”

God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and ask him to let the Israelites go and worship in the desert. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and the Israelites watched as God caused nine plagues to occur. Moses told Pharaoh if you don’t let my people go, God will turn the Nile River, streams, canals and ponds into blood. Pharaoh didn’t and God did as He promised. The next plague was frogs everywhere in Egypt. Then there were gnats, then flies, next sickness on their livestock, boils on Egyptian men and animals, tremendous amounts of hail did damage to crops, locusts were everywhere, darkness and then the death of each Egyptian family’s first born son and animal. Pharaoh finally let them go. Before they left they asked their Egyptian neighbors for their articles of silver and gold and they received an abundance.

They finally witnessed the Passover when they were told to place blood of lambs on their doors to protect their first born from being killed. God tells Moses to tell the Hebrews that they are His chosen people and He will build them into a great nation. As they began their journey they saw a pillar of cloud guiding them by day and a pillar of fire leading them by night. They get to the Red Sea and saw that Pharaoh and his army were coming after them. God tells Moses with his staff point it to the sea and it will divide. It divides and the winds blow until they have dry ground to walk across. Once they get on the other side they see the Army follow them. They watch as the waters recede and drown every Egyptian and not a one survived. They travel to Marah. They could not drink the water because it was bitter. God told Moses to toss a piece of wood into the water and it would become sweet and it did.

They then began moaning because they didn’t have bread. God sent them six days a week Manna or bread from Heaven. He then flooded their camps with quail. They journeyed on and ran out of water. God told Moses to take his staff and strike a rock. Water poured out sufficient for everyone and the animals.

The Hebrews were attacked by the Amelekites. God told Moses to raise his hands. When Moses hands were up the Israelites were winning. When he took them down they began losing. He sat on a stone and Aaron and Hur stood beside him and kept his hands up. The Israelites won. This should have given them faith that they could defeat anyone. But it didn’t. They had a real faith and trust problem.

Israel arrives at Sinai and God gives them the Ten Commandments. Then God speaks to them from the mountain. He teaches them social responsibility and adds laws of justice and mercy. God tells them to build a tabernacle and gives specific instructions. He teaches what to and what not to eat. He teaches sanitation. He instructs them how to treat disease. They are given a course in sex education.

God told Moses to send out some men to explore the land of Canaan which He is giving to the Israelites. Twelve were sent. They reported back and ten said they couldn’t defeat them and Joshua and Caleb said they could. They said descendents of Anak lived there. They were seven to nine feet tall and possibly taller according to graves being uncovered recently.

God did not create us to fail. To become successful requires trust, hope and purpose. Doing my research and reading national newspapers I didn’t realize the number of people who live everyday without hope, faith or trust. Whether it is in the Middle East, Africa, Mexico or the poorer sections of American large cities many live in areas where government is corrupt, incompetent and dysfunctional. Many suffer from malnutrition, unemployment, living where there is a lack of security and in heavy crime areas, feeling despair and stress without sufficient finances to provide medicine and nutritional needs. Many are members of religions that offer little hope and no assurance of eternal life in heaven.

My purpose for writing is to share with those who are living in better conditions but have little or no hope for the future because they have allowed others to define who they are or what they can become. Who you associate with and who you listen to really matters.

If you knew that God created you to be successful and positive would you live differently? I believe most people allow the devil to blind them spiritually. If you have never heard what the Bible teaches and what God promises, Satan and his demons wouldn’t have to worry about you trying to improve the world by testifying about the gospel to others. He is no longer concerned that your life will change spiritually. So what does he do? He puts people into your life, if you are a Christian, that have a critical spirit who hold you back from doing what God created you to do. Who you associate with can alter your purpose, faith and vision. They can destroy any trust in God or any hope you may have. There are people who you think are friends who will discourage you from being what God intended you to be. Only associate with people who are encouragers, believe in you and treat you as a child of God. Stay away from all those who have that critical spirit. They can bring you down or discourage you from finding your purpose.

What have we learned throughout history? People today are little different from those Israelites having witnessed every possible miracle and still could not trust God. What would you have to witness in order to believe that God has a plan for you and he wants you to live a holy life? Do you feel unworthy? Is it because you don’t trust God when He says you are worthy because He made you worthy? When He says He will meet your needs if you practice His ways, does He? Let’s ask again. What will it take for you to develop a complete trust and have faith to believe what God promises you? Have you allowed the two negative influences, your carnal nature and influences from evil spirits to provide doubt in regard to God? If so, do you realize what you have been missing? Think of what the Hebrew people suffered when they could have had complete prosperity if they only had trusted God. If you find yourself in the same situation maybe you can learn from what they did not do and do it. Realize the importance of faith and having trust in God. Do you want to suffer as the Israelites did or do you want to live in the land of milk and honey? It’s our choice. Trust God and see if your life doesn’t change.