Trust is the foundation which allows a society to function. Replace trust with suspicion or fear and many of the things we do so freely in our society would stop. If you remove trust completely from your approach to life, nothing would be safe. "Trust me." "I speak the truth."
If trust disappeared you would never drink water out of your tap. After the Walkerton tragedy many stopped drinking tap water. They started drinking bottled water. But bottled water is a matter of trust as well. Who knows where the water really comes from? Who knows what controls are in place to insure safe water? And who knows if the hired help in the bottling facility is adhering to policy?
Few of us spend much time boiling our water or using other methods to purify the water we drink. We trust that our water will be safe.
Although trust is important for society to function, we know trust can be misplaced. News headlines feature failures in trust. Relationships, business partnerships and marriages break down when a person's actions indicate untrustworthiness.
We find ourselves faced with a dilemma. Trust is necessary but trust can hurt. It can leave us vulnerable. So even though trust is necessary it is also risky.
The Bible is a story of failed trust and a loving God who worked hard to re-establish trust with humanity. Genesis provides the background for all that follows. Adam and Eve represent the first failure. They failed to trust God's word. They concluded, with some prompting from the serpent, that God did not mean what he said. They also believed that God was holding back on them. If they really wanted to know what life was about, if they really wanted to experience the best, then eating the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden was the thing to do. Even though everything else that God had done in their life was good, they chose to move out on their own.
Their story represents your story. It represents my story. Every time we shake our head and say "God, I think you are holding out on me" and pursue life apart from him, we find ourselves in a violation of trust - similar to Adam and Eve. Every time we say, "God, I hear you but I don't believe that you mean what you are saying" and then act in a contrary way, we fail to trust.
The book of Deuteronomy represents a major transition in the life of Israel. The wilderness wanderings are over. Moses' leadership will conclude. God speaks to a new generation of Israelites through Moses. A key theme in the book is trust.
How does trust in God find expression? In his conversations with Israel, God is specific. Deuteronomy 8: 1 puts it this way: "Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers."
God says to the children of Israel that a way to express trust is to "carefully follow every command I am giving you…" Another translation says, "Diligently observe the entire commandment that I command you today."
God provides the motivation: "So that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers."
There was not a person in the crowd who did not want to live and increase and posses the land. Three verbs, live, increase, and possess represent the raw basics of life. Listen as people express their ambitions and dreams. I would be surprised if these three words or the substance of these three words were not basic to the conversation.
There are few of us who have a death wish. We want to live. We want to experience life fully. Much of what we do is about the desire to live - to really live.
Very few people spend a lot of time thinking about what the want to get rid of - unless it is extra weight or an addiction. Do we say to a family member when their birthday comes up: "What would you like me to take away from you this year?" Or "What do you want me to help you get rid of?" I don't think so. Usually we ask, "What would you like?" That question is about increase. It is about more.
Posses the land represents a space to live - a place to call home. It is about a place where we feel safe and secure. It is a collective desire and an individual desire. Our homes will not be safe and secure if country in which we live is chaotic. The tragedy of 9/11 was a wake up call which reminded us that a country would not be safe and secure if the world is in turmoil.
God was making a big time promise to the people of Israel. It was the promise of life, of increase, and of a safe place to live and raise their children. But there was a condition: "Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today."
God is serious about the condition to obey. The same condition is repeated numerous times in the book of Deuteronomy. It is a stipulation the Israelites are to explain to their children. Chapter 6 says that when the children ask about all the regulations, the parents are to respond: "The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive..."
We have a condition and a promise. The promise is amazing. The condition is tough. Trust ties the two together.
Understanding the difficulty we have with trusting him, God gives further instruction that will help the Israelites to trust. God says, "Remember." Remember what? Remember the 40 years in the wilderness. The wilderness was 40 years of a very constricted life with not a lot of increase and no place to call home except a tent. But God did not waste the wilderness experience. Chapter 8, Verse 2: "Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands."
Hardship results in a heart test. The stress of frustration, of failed dreams, of more delays, of more doing but never seeming to get brings to the surface issues that lie dormant in the heart. When things are going well, when life is smooth, when there are no issues or conflicts, niceness and civility are not hard to achieve. But throw in a couple of problems and niceness becomes strained.
The wilderness brought out issues among the people. The frustration of going nowhere gave rise to a rebellion against Moses. Some questioned his leadership. They even questioned his relationship with God. Their hearts revealed anger, jealousy, and rebellion. Those who rebelled experienced the judgment of God.
Immorality and the worship of other gods also took place in the wilderness. "Come worship with us at our altars and then let's play!" was the seductive call of the Moabite women. The call to play after years of following God around the wilderness revealed restless, immoral, and disloyal hearts. Again judgment ensued. Those who fail the test traded a few moments of pleasure for their life.
God wants the Israelites to remember those tests and to remember the consequences of failing. In remembering, he reminds them of the importance of trust. Trust that responds in obedience is important.
The wilderness also humbled the Israelites. Self-sufficiency was not possible. When they were hungry and there are no solutions within grasp, God became their only hope. All their bluster was gone. Pride took a nosedive.
God provided manna. The importance of manna for the Israelites was that it took the Israelites beyond their experience or knowledge base. The lesson is stated in 8:3. "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the of the Lord."
Manna taught the Israelites and anyone else who is willing to learn that not only physical life but life itself, spiritual life, meaningful connected life, comes from God. Not only can God provide manna by his word but his word, when obeyed, brings life.
Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 8: 3 when, after 40 days without food in the wilderness, Satan tempts him as the powerful Son of God to turn the stones into bread to satisfy his hunger. We read in Luke 4:4: "And Jesus answered him, saying, 'It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"
Jesus' response was a reaffirmation of the truth of Deuteronomy 8. "I am confident that God will provide for my physical needs. What is important is that I follow his every command, for true life is found in God. "
Jesus lived out the relationship of trust that God desired from the Israelites. In the face of hunger, he could say "God is life and I know he will supply my physical need just as he gives life."
Maybe you are in a state of rebellion. You are frustrated with the people around you. You are frustrated and angry with God. Life is not turning out the way you would like. You want change yet nothing seems to be happening. The lesson of Deuteronomy is to exchange your frustration and anger for trust. Trust in God can bring you His peace. God reminds you that hardship is a test of your heart. Are there some heart issues you need to deal with? Or do you have a heart that trusts?
Maybe you are feeling desperate. You are at the end of yourself. Or in the words of Deuteronomy, God has humbled you. But if God has humbled you, he is not finished with you. He invites you to open your heart and hands to him. Trust him to do a new thing in your life. Look for the manna from heaven and know that in him there is life, and increase, and security. Some may be struggling about how to respond to the capital campaign. The figure you hear God whispering in your ear stretches your giving capacity. Maybe it even blows it out of the water. If it is God, you are hearing then be careful to follow his command. Why? Let's say it together. "IN HIM there is LIFE, and INCREASE and SECURITY." Deuteronomy 8:1: "Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers."
Trust can be extremely difficult. God knows that. But he does not diminish his demand for trust. Trust is the basis of our relationship with him. Jesus died because we failed to trust. God loved us so much He sent His Son Jesus to restore trust so that we could experience life. He calls us to an active trust. It is a trust that calls us to carefully follow HIM. As individuals and as people who are part of this congregation, we want to be careful to follow Jesus wherever he leads. Remember that Jesus came to bring us life - a life that is for now and lasts forever. Trust in God will challenge us but trust in God will never be misplaced.