Am I Trusting God?Sample

Exodus 4:2-5: Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. [3] The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. [4] Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. [5] “This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

Moses is overcoming his trust issues by obeying the Lord’s command to do something he doesn’t quite understand: throw his staff on the ground. It then turns into a snake. The Lord is confronting Moses with his past. The snake was a symbol of Egypt, Moses understood it and ran from it. He continues to not trust God and still carries the mindset of a fugitive. Perhaps he remembers the fact that he committed murder in Egypt and had to run away from that country.

We may wonder why God is confronting Moses with his painful past. Could he not just sweep the thing under the carpet and pretend that nothing happened? After 40 painful years of oblivion, God is not finished with Moses and wants to deal with his trust issue. Moses, will you trust me to face Egypt again? Will you stop running away from things and start trusting me to direct your steps?

God wants us to face our ‘Egypts’ — the situations in our lives that have been painful and we ran away from without consulting him. Jesus had to confront Peter with his thrice denial by asking him three times, "Do you love me?" God wants to heal the scars of our failures and prepare us to face our future. What are the failures of your past? Are you willing to face them again with the grace of God and with confidence that he will help you overcome? You can trust God!