In God We Trust

I want to focus on the word "trust," because even if you're not a pilot or a skydiver, trust is something that every one of us has to exercise every day.

It's at the core of what it means to please God and to follow Jesus. The Bible says: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart".

Have you ever thought about what it means to trust in God?

The words "trust," "faith," and "believe" are all synonyms.

When the Bible says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved", it's another way of saying, "Trust in the Lord."

Trust is also an important part of a living, ongoing relationship.

Trust means knowing someone well enough that you can count on him or her and acting in accordance with that trust.

Believing, having faith, trusting are the fundamentals of life with God.

Trust, however, does not come naturally for most of us.

Scripture 1

Exodus 2: 11-15

New Living Translation (Exodus Chapter 2)

11 Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. 12 After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. 13 The next day, when Moses went out to visit his people again, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. “Why are you beating up your friend?” Moses said to the one who had started the fight. 14 The man replied, “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?”Then Moses was afraid, thinking, “Everyone knows what I did.” 15 And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian.

Story 1: Story Of My Trust Fall Failure With My Team

Point 1: What We Trust Is Revealed By Our Desires

New Living Translation (Hebrews Chapter 11)

24 It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.

Sub Point A: View Of Slaves

What is surprising about Moses’ deep sympathy for those who suffered oppression is that he had been raised to show utter contempt for slaves.

One of the primary goals of Pharaoh’s educational system was to reinforce the pride of those in power.

Texts expressed a deep contempt of manual labor while stressing the value of study.

Studies lead to a life far away from dust, dirt, and toil under harsh taskmasters. These texts emphasize the extremely low status of the working class in ancient Egyptian society.”

One example: The maker of pots is smeared with soil, like one whose relations have died. His hands, his feet are full of clay; he is like one who lives in the bog

In other texts, slaves are described as the “living dead” or are compared to donkeys. All of their hard labor is contrasted, of course, with the pleasures of the ruling elite, who enjoy a life of ease:.

Sub Point B: Amount Of Riches

Moses had everything the world had to offer. He had grown up as one of Pharaoh’s grandsons, enjoying all the riches of Egypt.

For example, of the fabulous golden treasures that the English archaeologist Howard Carter found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen.

He had everything to lose and nothing to gain, but the moment he was moved to compassion by the sufferings of God’s people, he made his choice.

From then on he would be a despised Hebrew rather than a privileged Egyptian. It was a startling reversal.

Sub Point C

“In most foundling stories the hero is removed from the royal court and raised among the common people, finally returning as a young adult to claim and establish his rightful heritage of wealth and power. In this story, however, Moses did not become the hero, the legitimate agent of God, until he burned all the bridges between himself and the wealth and power of the Egyptian court.”

He gave up position, pleasure, and prosperity, and by doing so he rejected three of the world’s biggest temptations: materialism.

We Learn A Simple, But Crucial Truth From Moses: The Treasures Of This World Are Empty Compared To Christ

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Our currency, which isn't inspired in the biblical sense, echoes this theme: "In God We Trust."

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God calls us to identify with his people, even when it causes us pain and persecution.

Some people, if put in Moses’ position, would have figured out a way to stay in Pharaoh’s court. “With my influence,” they would rationalize, “I could do more good for the Hebrews here than I could ever hope to accomplish out in the slave camps.”

But Moses took a radically God-centered approach to career advancement. As far as he was concerned, there could be no compromise with Pharaoh’s evil regime. He was called to forsake sin, with all its pleasures, even if it meant suffering disgrace for Christ.

We, too, are called to suffer “for the sake of Christ”

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Point 2: What We Trust Is Revealed By Our Choices

Sub Point A: Pride

New Living Translation (Acts Chapter 7)

22 Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action. 23 “One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. 24 He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t. 26 “The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’27 “But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. 28 ‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian.

Moses Had Enough Trust To Leave Riches Behind, But Not Yet His Strength

The Hebrew language does not distinguish very precisely between beating and killing; the verb nakah refers to both.

Thus the word used to describe what the Egyptian did to the Hebrew and what Moses did to the Egyptian are one and the same. This suggests that the slave driver intended to beat his slave to death.

How Many Of you Have Heard The Saying “The Ends Justify The Means”?

Many Christian commentators have sought to clear Moses from the charge of murder. But that does not change the fact that what he did was wrong.

It was wrong because it was not God’s will. God had not yet called Moses to lead his people out of Egypt.

It was also wrong because it was not God’s way. God had not commanded Moses to take up arms against the oppressor, as if somehow he could liberate Israel one Egyptian at a time. Later God would smite the Egyptians himself, but that was his business, and the time had not yet come.

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Meekness Is Not Weakness

Weakness is not admirable

Meekness Is Strength Under Control

Meekness Is knowing how to use a sword, but keeping it sheathed

A way in which Moses’ pride emerges in this account is the method that Moses chose to employ in the liberation of his people.

God had a plan for how he would deliver the Israelites, a plan constructed to display God’s glory and power. Moses’ plan involved using his own physical strength.

Whenever we substitute our methods for God’s methods we are acting in a prideful manner.

These prideful actions of Moses—using his own timetable and employing his own methods—are things we struggle with all the time as Christians.

It is so easy for us to convince ourselves that God is not moving fast enough or that his methods are inefficient.

I often face the temptation to accomplish my goals in my timing and in my way.

Perhaps you too struggle with this temptation.

The reality is that when we engage in this type of prideful behavior we are declaring that we believe we are sovereign over our own lives and circumstances.

Autonomy, pride, and self-sufficiency are simply a reflection of our self-love and self-idolatry.

The end result of this type of pride is set forth for us in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Sub Point B: Lost Influence

These two incidents prove that neither were the Israelites yet ready to go out of Egypt, nor Moses prepared to be their leader.

New Living Translation (James Chapter 1)

20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

It was by the staff and not the sword by the meekness, and not the wrath of Moses that God was to accomplish that great work of deliverance.

Becoming a fugitive was bad enough, but Moses faced a second problem that was even worse: The Israelites had rejected his leadership.

Rather than showing him respect, they regarded him with utter contempt.

Apparently Moses had hoped to start some kind of uprising, but none of the slaves were willing to join the revolt.

As far as the slave was concerned, Moses was meddling and had no right to stick his nose into other people’s business. “Who do you think you are?” the man was saying. “Who died and made you the prince of Egypt?”

Good question. Who had given Moses authority over Israel? The answer was, no one, at least as far as the Bible indicates.

It would be forty more years before God would call Moses from the burning bush. For the time being, Moses was operating as a self-appointed savior, taking it upon himself to lead Israel out of Egypt, and the Israelites wanted no part of it.

Rather than repeating the Hebrew word for striking, the slave who threatened Moses used the word for killing. In other words, he accused him of murder, plain and simple. Thus Moses could not even settle a simple dispute between two Israelites without being charged with homicide.

How, then, could he lead the entire nation out of Egypt? His credibility as a leader was destroyed. By killing the Egyptian, Moses had forfeited the moral authority to deliver God’s people.

It would be a long, long time before Moses would regain their respect—almost a lifetime, in fact. His first attempt to rescue the Israelites ended in failure.

When Moses inserted himself into this situation, he was presuming that he understood his role and that it operated according to his own timetable.

Whenever we attempt to replace God’s timetable with our own, we are acting in a prideful manner.

Sub Point C: Refining

By his prideful actions, Moses was implying that he could go it alone.

The more we learn about Moses, the more we realize how tragic his mistake was.

For all his admirable qualities—his hatred of injustice, his opposition to slavery, his sympathy with those who suffered, and his deep affection for God’s people—with one rash act Moses threw away forty years of spiritual preparation.

Although he had a holy zeal to rescue God’s people, his zeal was not based on knowledge.

His failure had nothing to do with his motivation, for his heart was in the right place. Rather, the problem was his method: Moses was trying to save God’s people by his own works rather than letting God save them by his grace.

By using his own timetable and methods, Moses was declaring that he did not need God.

The result of his prideful attitude and actions was that God let him go it alone for a while.

Moses ran off alone to Midian. He ventured onto a great detour that would delay his involvement in the deliverance of God’s people for forty years. But this forty-year detour was not wasted time; rather, it was necessary because Moses was not yet ready for service. He needed more preparation and that’s exactly how God used this detour in Moses’ life.

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New Living Translation (Isaiah Chapter 48)

9 Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name, I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out. 10 I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. 11 I will rescue you for my sake — yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols!

Silver Was Harder To Melt Down And Refine Than Gold. Required More Intense Heat. More Severity.

Both he and the people of Israel were for forty years more to be cast into the furnace of affliction, yet it was therein that He had chosen them