Do You Trust Me?

Have you ever been afforded a glimpse into your future? I’m not talking about visions or extra-Biblical revelations, but God has ways of directing, and sometimes He does so years in advance. It can happen through a sermon, a ministry presentation, personal Bible reading, prayer time, an increasing heart burden, recurring thoughts, life changes, or an accumulation of circumstances. When someone is alert to God and attentive to His voice, he can experience indications of how God is working and intends to work in one’s life.

To make the concept practical, a young man may know that God wants Him to be a pastor; he may move through a number of ministries and locations, however, before God puts him into the pastorate. A young couple may have an increasing burden for missions, but it may take an overseas job assignment to get them started on the path. A Christian may have an underlying assurance that God wants him to work with a particular group of people, such as the deaf, but until he faces deafness in his own child, he is not prepared for that ministry. A pastor may be challenged with a specific area of focus, perhaps family ministry or addiction counseling, but God might gradually prepare him for that ministry over a process of years and through a combination of experiences.

When God has given indications, whether initial or confirmed, that He is leading in a certain direction, what does one do with the waiting time? How does he continue to muddle through the realities and challenges of day-to-day life until God brings His plan to fruition? What does he do with his calling when there is no visible way of seeing it happen?

As I consider this question in my own life, I realize there are a number of natural (but wrong) responses that I repeatedly exhibit. I also see God challenging me with one supernatural (and correct) response. I think these responses can be illustrated with the life of Moses. To be clear, I don’t see any indication prior to the burning bush that Moses or his parents knew God would use him to deliver the children of Israel. His life, however, includes various circumstances in which these responses can be examined.

The first wrong response is “It’s impossible.” This doubtful response denies God’s ability to ever work out His plan. It concedes that the idea is nice, but there is no way for it to happen. Think of the impossibility of Moses’ delivering God’s people. He was not supposed to survive the birth process. The midwives failed to kill him, however, and the additional commands from Pharaoh did not result in Moses’ death. Against all odds, Moses survived undetected for three months; then when entrusted to the Nile, he had the unlikely “fortune” of being discovered and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. Was it impossible for Moses to become God’s leader? Yes, but God did it anyway.

The second wrong response is “Life doesn’t make sense.” This confused response strives for understanding that God has reserved for Himself. When the events of life seem to contradict the intended goal, this answer demands more information than God is giving. If Moses’ life were to make sense, we would see his position in the palace as his inroad for influence. (It worked for Esther and Nehemiah.) Instead we see an intervention by Moses that throws the entire situation into chaos and senselessness. While intervening for one of the Israelites, Moses killed an Egyptian and subsequently had to flee for his life. If he was to be the leader of the exodus, it makes no sense that he was removed entirely from the location where he needed to work as well as from his potential position of power. Was it confusing as to how these contradictions could ever be worked out? Yes, but God did it anyway.

The third wrong response is “There’s no progress.” This impatient response urges God to work more quickly than He has planned. The intense passion or heart desire is frustrated and tormented at not being able to achieve its goal sooner. If anyone faced years without progress, it was Moses. He spent forty years in the desert as a shepherd. There was no career-building in that desolate job. In his isolated environment, there was no means of establishing connections or even of keeping abreast of current conditions. Moses waited not for a month, a year, or five years, but for four long decades. Surely it seemed that his life would never accomplish anything worthwhile. Was there so much waiting that it would seem to prevent Moses’ rise to leadership? Yes, but God did it anyway.

The fourth wrong response is “But it’s so hard.” This overwhelmed response focuses on the difficulties of the current situation. It might believe that God’s plan will happen – if one can survive everything that comes first. As Moses obediently prepared to lead God’s people, he faced continual opposition. He had a conflict with his wife, and after his initial entreaty brought increased work for the Israelites, he faced protests from them. He went time after time to Pharaoh, whose heart was hardened to reject God’s plan in spite of escalating judgment. He experienced the discomfort of the plagues. He faced Pharaoh’s stubbornness, demands, and false promises. Was the pressure on Moses so great that no man could be sustained under it? Yes, but God did it anyway.

Finally, the correct response is based on a question from God: “Do you trust Me?” This faith-filled response acknowledges God’s ability to overcome all of the above protests. When my heart thinks those other responses and my mind wants to dwell on them, God asks, “Do you trust Me?” Moses learned to trust God. When the children of Israel were trapped at the edge of the Red Sea, the people were desperate and distraught. There was no way out. But notice Moses’ confident words: “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today” (Exodus 14:13).

Why did he say that? We have no record that he was relaying a message received from God. Instead this seems to be his immediate response to the people’s cry. How did he know God would deliver? It was because God had proven Himself to Moses. Moses had come to understand who God was, and he responded appropriately with trust. By this time Moses knew the job that God had given him, and he knew that God would bring that plan about – when it seemed impossible, when it was confusing, when it was taking too much time, and when the process was too hard. If God said it, then God would do it. Moses could trust the infallible words and reliable guidance of his faithful God, and so can every other follower of God.

“Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.” Psalm 37:3-5 (NASB)