Trusting God for His Promises

God has given us everything we need, along with great and precious promises. Will we believe and follow, or will we continue to disobey and test God?

“But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.” (Deuteronomy 1:32-33 NAS)

“For all of this.” For all of what? In the Hebrew the word for “this” is either a thing or a word, and immediately following there is a strong stop, or pause of astonishment.

It’s as if Moses were saying, “After all that the Lord has done for you, and now at this very moment of entering into the Promise Land you don’t believe? What’s up with that?”

This is further enhanced in the grammar. The meaning is that they continued to disbelieve even though they saw God continually go before them, which makes this sin of unbelief all the more grievous.

Moses was recounting their rebellion for not entering into the Promise Land the first go around. Moses told them not to fear the inhabitants, no matter how numerous they were or well fortified their cities may be, because the Lord would go before them and fight their battles, just as He fought and delivered them from the Egyptians without their even raising a hand in the fight.

But they didn’t trust God who revealed His presence day and night, showing them the way they were to go, and the places where they would stay, and who had given them their daily provision.

So they rebelled, not only by not trusting God at His word by not going in, but then by disobeying God’s word when He told them not to go, but they went ahead any way.

Can we trust and obey? Our entering into God’s promises depends upon it.