Deut 6:10-16, And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.”
Sweat mingles with the oil that matted his hair, his beard and stained the front of his garment. It made him look like a wild man but he was completely sane. He was a man on a mission. He was a man that had recently been anointed by the prophet and he had never felt so good in his life. There was no experience that he had ever had that measured up to the exhilaration he was feeling at this moment.
He was a man on a mission. He was a man who had been commissioned by the prophet of the Lord. As he journeyed, men fell in with him. They were joining him as he carried out the commandment of the Lord. Not one man raised a sword against him. Yet hundreds fell at the hands of those who sided with him.
God blessed Jehu and his household. In fact, his house was blessed for four generations because he had destroyed the household of Ahab as God had commanded. (II Kings 10:30-31). However, that same passage also tells us that this mighty, zealous man decided not to walk in the law of the Lord God. He even caused Israel to sin.
Oh, he was blessed, exuberant and very zealous. Yet sadly he could not be trusted with the blessings of the Lord. My question is simply this, “Can God trust you? Can God trust you with His blessings? Can God trust you with a trial?”
The fire flickered on the bodies of the men and women, lending an eerie glow, as he walked into camp. He had been warned ahead of time what the situation he was encountering would be. In fact, it was because of this problem that he had been told to cut his meeting short and to head back to camp.
He could hear the ruckus way up on the hill, long before the camp was ever in sight. Yet with all of the warning he was still not prepared for the scene that awaited him. Shock and incredulity swept over him as he approached the camp!
Moses was so angry! He was furious at the people of Israel! God had tremendously blessed Israel. He had brought about a miraculous deliverance for them. He had repeatedly met their needs. All of their needs!
Now, the first time that Moses is out of sight, they backslide. They loose sight of the promises of God. They take part of the blessings that God has given them. The gold they had brought from Egypt. They melt in and make it into a golden calf, returning to the idol worship of Egypt. God couldn’t trust them.
In Philippians 4:12-13, Paul admonishes us to be consistent in our walk with God. When I am having problems and nothing seems to go right or when all is going the way I had hoped. Paul says to be content. God can trust you.
It is easy to be faithful and trust worthy when we are sailing through life with a gentle breeze at our back. The sea of life is like calm as a bathtub, not a ripple anywhere. The question is can God trust us with a trial? Can God trust us with a blessing? Can God really trust us?
Several years ago I was asked by a neighboring pastor to fill in for him while he was out of town. It was a Wednesday night Bible Study. Just before it was time to begin the services, I stood up from where I had been kneeling in prayer. I was on the platform, so I turned and looked out over the congregation. I had preached there many times and recognized many of the people that night.
My eyes came to rest on the pale face of Brother Robert French. I was so happy to see him. Just eight days prior to that evening, Brother French has suffered a massive heart attack and had died.
This wasn’t one of those occasions where the heart stops and then starts back up again. This man had been dead for over forty-five minutes. They had tried several times to start his heart with the paddles. A large male nurse had pounded on his chest trying to get the heart to respond. Finally the doctor gave up and said that Brother French was dead and he was going to have to go tell the family.
As he put his hand on the door to leave the room, the nurse yelled, “He is responding! He is alive!”
The doctor, an unbeliever, and by that I mean not even believing in God, later told the family that Robert French serves a great God.
Now here is Brother French just eight days later sitting on the second row of the church. I am not talking eight weeks or eight months later. I am saying he was in church the first service after he was released from the hospital.
I walked back to where he sat and I shook his hand. I told him how happy I was to see him. I really meant what I was saying; not just saying words to make conversation.
After greeting him and speaking to his precious wife. I turned and walked back to my seat. As I stepped onto the platform the Lord spoke to me and said, “I was able to give this man this type of a blessing because I can trust him.”
What do we do with our blessings? To we bask in them and then hide them away? Do we feel that God owes them to us and is lucky we are there to receive them? Can God trust us?
What do we do with our trials? What do we do with our victories? Do we use them to bring glory to God? Do we use them to allow God to do a greater work in our lives and in our worlds? Can God trust us?
God brought Israel out of Egypt. He kept them through the wilderness. He gave them the land of Canaan. God warned them not to forget Him and what He had done for them. Yet He was unable to trust Israel. Time and time again Israel proved to be untrustworthy as they forgot God and took His blessings for granted. Can God trust us?
