Trust vs. Demanding
I’ve just been hit by a great verse in Psalm 78. And I’ve been thinking about it a bunch.
This Psalm is a where God’s goodness in a variety of ways is recounted. Four times we are reminded of God’s actions: miracles in Egypt (9-16), food and punishment in the desert (19-31), forgiveness (33-39), promised land (41-55). Each time after God’s kindness is expressed Israel choses continue to rebel and turn their backs on him.
That’s where verse 17 and 18 hit me. “But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved.”
The Lord was providing for them all they needed. It was not enough for them. They demanded that God give them water, meat. They crossed their arms and said, “No More” to God. This is an act of rebellion. The Lord had a course for their life. No it wasn’t easy. Yet it was his journey for them. Israel wanted nothing of it. “We want meat! We want comfort! We don’t want to fight! We don’t want this.”
Israel did not trust God. They did not want the journey the Lord had set for them. Instead they demanded from him everything they wanted. Are we much different? Are we willing to surrender to Christ….everything? He has asked us to trust him. Each of us has difficult steps to take. Everyone’s life has areas of faith. We cannot live outside of a life of faith. It is the way God has designed it. You and I will have areas of discomfort, awkwardness, difficulty, pain, hurt. These are the areas we must trust him in.
If we don’t learn to trust the Lord we will end up demanding. We will take our ball and go home and not deal with him. At those times we say, “Well if that’s the way you play God, I’m out of here.” Demanding is a bad place to be. This text tells us that we are actually rebelling against God.
This demanding can go unnoticed. We can be completely unaware we doing it. Are we demanding the Lord change our kids? …our finances? our job? our spouse? our extended family? our parents? our car?
We can do it better.
Ps 85 tells us a different story of dealing with life’s twists and turns. In this Psalm Israel gets it right. How?
- They remember God’s past actions (1-3)
- They petition him in trust (4-7)
- They remember God’s character (8-13)
In the middle of a trial it is so difficult to remember what God has done in the past in our lives or remember his character. The difficult situation is like a dark cloud that you can’t escape from. It is like a magnet that holds you in the whirlwind of frustration. It takes everything you have to pray and to remember. Yet that is where our hope is at.
May God bless you as work to trust the steps, the life he’s called you to live.
Check this link out below I found below that’s related to this subject. I also have my Powerpoint slides we used this last Sunday. Enjoy.
http://www.mckenziestudycenter.org/bible/articles/testing.html
Groups Guy 