Trust in Him to Abide in the Land

"Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." (Psalm 37: 3)

Trust in the LORD - is it really as easy as it seems?

Many of us want to do something more, to earn what God so freely gives, and which He only has the power to give.

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)

We cannot go anywhere, let anyone stay anywhere, if we do not trust the LORD.

Consider the unbelief of the Israelites on the border of the Promised Land:

"2And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." (Numbers 13:32-33)

and then

"And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 4And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." (Numbers 14: 1-4)

What was really going on here? What was going through the minds of the Israelites at this time?

Moses exposed their unbelieving hearts:

"And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us." (Deuteronomy 1: 27)

Jesus our Savior then and now asked the Israelites to do the same thing He had hoped they would do at the border of the Promised Land:

"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 28-29)

and then

"So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." (Hebrews 3: 19)

and then

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 9-11)

Let us grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, hearing more and more of the Word of Christ (Romans 10: 17)