Learning to Trust...Not As Easy As You Think!

The Gathering of the Manna in the Desert-Giuseppe Angeli

This year, I am doing a Bible study with some ladies from my church on fear and worry.  How appropriate, right?  This month's lesson was an in-depth look at when God provided manna for the Israelites.

In case you have forgotten or aren't familiar with the details, the story takes place not quite 2 months after God miraculously rescued the Israelites from 400 years of slavery to the Egyptians.  He had sent 10 supernatural plagues to convince the Pharaoh to let His people go, and then when Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after the hundreds of thousands of Israelites, God opened up the Red Sea, allowed His people to walk through on dry ground, and then closed the waters, drowning the Egyptian soldiers who were pursuing them.

But now the same hundreds of thousands of Israelites were in the desert with no food.  And they began to worry.

Now, let me interject here.  I think we are far too hard on the poor Israelites.  Would you, if you were in the middle of the wilderness with waning food supplies and hundreds of thousands of mouths to feed, joyfully and fearlessly march onward with no thought of where tomorrow's meals would come from?  I think not.  Or if you would, you are a different kind of human being than I am.

God heard His people's cries, and being who He is, provided for them.  He sent manna, this odd white stuff (the Hebrew word manna means "what is it?") every morning for the Israelites to gather, prepare, and eat.  He gave them some specific commands, though.  They were only to gather enough for that day.  If they disobeyed and collected more than they could eat that day, the leftovers became moldy and worm-infested overnight.  They were to collect manna for tomorrow tomorrow.  For years and years God provided food for His people in this way, one day at a time.

One of the questions in the Bible study asked "How would the daily provision of manna have affected the fear that the Israelites felt?"  As I pondered the text in order to answer the question, I was struck with a greater understanding of how trials work.

Our usual Christian answer to the question would be that the daily provision of manna taught the Israelites to trust God.  And that's true.  But answer the "How" part of the question.  How did it teach them to trust God?  After seeing the manna one morning, were all their fears assuaged?  I think not (and indeed, the record of Scripture agrees with me...). 

The daily provision of manna would have made the Israelites come face-to-face with their fear daily.  Every day they would have had to fight the tendency to wonder where tomorrow's food would come from.  The desire to have a little stockpile to fall back on.  The worry that tomorrow might be different and they might have to watch their children starve in the wilderness. 

Then it occurred to me.  Unfortunately, that's the only way to be taught to trust God.  Learning always involves some practice, some repetition.  To use educational vernacular, we learn by doing.  You can't learn to trust God until you are in a place where you have to trust God.  And the places where you have to trust God are usually uncomfortable places.  Like being stuck in a wilderness with no food for tomorrow.  Like waiting for your son to die, and then walking through life after that.

Furthermore, one day of practice doesn't usually build a robust trust in God.  To use another analogy, one day of lifting weights doesn't give you strong muscles.  You get strong muscles from lifting heavy weights day after day.  That's why God provided manna daily for His people.  Every night they had to go to bed battling fear that they wouldn't have food to eat tomorrow.  That battle is what builds trust.

I think that there is a slight misunderstanding common in the church that having to fight fear is wrong or a sign of spiritual weakness.  We think that we should just joyfully and trustingly accept every circumstance in our lives and never worry.  But that would be like saying that it's wrong to have to go to the gym and work out in order to be strong, or that we should be good at a skill after practicing it once or twice.  When we are commanded over and over in Scripture not to fear, implicit in that command is the understanding that we ARE afraid.  The command is to battle that fear. 

So, it's not that trials and tests instantly give a Christian happy, restful trust in God.  Trials and tests make a Christian face their fears, doubts, and worries over and over again.  But it's the process of facing those fears and consciously fighting to trust day after day, even when it seems like the weight we are being asked to lift is remarkably heavy, that teaches us to trust.