faith & trust

Psalm 106:24 The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn't believe His promise to care for them.


The people talked about in this verse are the Jews who had fled Egyptian slavery.

They'd watched God send plagues in Egypt that forced Pharaoh to let them go.

They'd walked across the Red Sea on dry ground.

They watched the Red Sea come back & drown all of Pharaoh's army.

But they couldn't bring themselves to enter the promised land of Canaan because they didn't believe that God would take care of them.

They decided that they would all be killed if they went in, even though the God who had done all the things to get them out of Egypt had promised to take care of them.

God was not pleased.

So they wandered in the wilderness of Sinai for 40 yrs, until every last one of them who didn't believe was dead. Then the Jews entered Canaan.


How many of us follow God, enjoying His care & guidance, until we come face to face with what seems to be a completely impossible?

At that point we simply decide to not believe He can pull this one off - that His care & guidance was fine before, but this is something He can't do.

And our lives begin to drift & wander.


I've entered the "pleasant land" 2 1/2 yrs ago & my life has come to a standstill. But I continue to believe, even when I don't feel like I believe, that He will continue to care & guide.


On March 31 of this year, I woke up at 2am & while lying there thinking, I seriously considered packing it up & moving back to Macon.

When I got up that morning to read, 9 verses hurtled up from the pages of the Bible as I read - 9 verses about His care & guidance & how I shouldn't give up.

Coincidence, you might say? I wasn't looking for verses to prop me up. I'd already decided that that morning I was gonna talk to Lynn about moving back to Macon. But here's 2 of the 9 verses that popped up...

Isaiah 46:3b I created you & have cared for you since before you were born. 4 I will be your God throughout your life - until your hair is white w/ age. I made you & I will care for you. I will carry you along & save you.

2 Corinthians 4:1 since God in His mercy has given us the wonderful ministry, we never give up.
(2 Corinthians 4 is all about Paul basically saying he's not gonna give up, even though quit looks good to him. Read all of that chapter to get all the things Paul says there that was pertinent to my situation)


And so, even though I think I'll lose my mind sometimes, I continue to wait, in the stand still for whatever is next in "pleasant land".