Nasso “Make an accounting”
Numbers 4:21–7:89
Judges 13:2–25
Philippians 1-4

Yes We Can!

This new life must have seemed like a daunting task to the Hebrews at times. Nothing was the same as it had been in Egypt. Life it seemed had changed so very fast as they looked back. It had been just over two years since Moses had first made his appearance in Egypt. The man Pharaoh who had once owned them seemed like a memory so distant it was hard to even imagine his face now. So much had changed that now it was hard to even remember if the thoughts of their previous life had really happened, as the details continued to fade into a blur of memories.

Life in the wilderness was nothing like they had thought it would be. Manna from dew and water from a rock was just not what they had expected. As you walked through the camp it was not an uncommon sight to see someone just staring at the pillar of cloud for what seemed like hours, as they became lost in the thoughts of the life that was and the life that is now.

A haunting thought ran around in many of their minds though. Who was this One who was leading them? Who is it that is speaking to Moses? Can He really be trusted or will He in the end turn out just like Pharaoh in Egypt?

Yes, there was a time in which Pharaoh had not been the harsh taskmaster. He had come to power at a time of instability in Egypt. It seemed he had the people’s best interest at heart. As time would go on however they found themselves more and more under his control and power. Everything had become about him and his desires. They found themselves in the end living as no more than property of a narcissistic egomaniac that no doubt had only one person’s interests in mind.

“So what about this One whom Moses says now owns us? Will He in the end turn out just as the Pharaoh did? Will He turn from the promises He made at Mt. Sinai and once again place us in bondage? Can He really be trusted?

As you and I think through the above scenario, we of course would like to jump into the scene and loudly proclaim our confession of trust to those who may have doubted. We would like to ease their fears by telling them that of course they can trust Him, for we have read the conclusion of their story and know His faithfulness. But as we proclaimed our confidence to them, would we also consider how much of their thoughts of doubt are still a part of our lives?

Let's face it. Most of us are not spiritual giants. We walk through our lives having a desire to place our full and complete trust in Elohim, but fall very short of that goal. Many of us call Him Father, but are haunted by the thought that in the end He may fail us, as our earthly father did. We call on Him as our provider, but at the same time think about the person who at one time or another in life let us down. We desire to give unto Him our complete love, but think back to a time in which we did so with a human and in the end we found ourselves hurt and abused. Our desire is to put our complete trust in Him, but we have been let down so many times by people that we are just not sure if He is able to fulfill all He has promised. The thoughts cause us to hold back from giving Him our all.

Maybe this is one reason scripture is not just a list of do's and don't, but is a story about Elohim dealing with people, of His attempts at relationship. It is His way of saying to us, "Yes, you can trust me. Look at what I have done in other’s lives. I have a track record of being faithful to others, and will do so to you also." This is why "Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of Elohim." It is through reading and hearing of His faithfulness to others that we let down our guard and learn about His faithfulness in and to us.

Don’t kid yourself. The Hebrews had doubts along their journey and so do we. I have yet to meet a person who had achieved "perfect faith." Just as with the Hebrews though, each step of our journey brings a new proof of His faithfulness and a further tearing down of our walls of doubt. This process happens step by step along our way until finally we awake to the realization that we no longer need to look at Him through the filter of the failure of humans in our lives. We then come to the place of being able to answer the question of "Can we trust Him fully" with a resounding call of "Yes we can."