| Overcoming
Adversity(Trusting God) – Introduction:I. We are talking this week about
overcoming adversity. We have seen that the reason why we have adversity in
the first place is found in the various sources from which adversity comes.
Then we looked at some anchors that can help us weather the Storms of life.
Now tonight I want to emphasize the importance of trusting God. When we trust
God, we will be able to both elude certain types of adversity and also
overcome adversity that bursts into our lives uninvitedly.II. We made mention
this morning of the fact that many of the storms of life are self-induced
because we neglect to use good judgment. Well, the worse judgment we can ever
demonstrate is the decision to not trust God. We have a story in the Bible
that reveals God’s people not trusting God. Their unwillingness to believe in
God caused them to disobey God and their disobedience lead to adversity. It
is the story of Joshua, Caleb and the ten spies. The story is revealed in
Numbers 13 and 14 and we shall be reading from that place in a few minutes.
But first let’s back up a little.In Gen. 12 God promised Abraham that He
would give his descendants the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:1-3, 5-7). Now a lot
would transpire before God gave the offspring of Abraham this land under
consideration. God would first make the descendants of Abraham a great nation
as He promised (Gen. 12:2). This would take over four hundred years and would
involve the Jews finding themselves in Egyptian bondage, but justice would finally
prevail (Gen. 15:13-14). This promise of the Lord was fulfilled when God
judged the Egyptians by the ten plagues, culminating with the death of all
the first born of Egypt (Ex. 12:29-38). So, the Israelites arrived in Egypt
with just a few but emerged with a multitude of thousands, ready to take
their place as a great nation in the land of Canaan.II. God led the
Israelites across the Red Sea, down the Sinai Peninsula and through the
Wildernesses of Shur, Sin and then finally Sinai where they encamp before the
Mount. Then, after a lengthy stay, they travel north into the Wilderness of
Paran where they settled at Kadesh-barnea on the border of the land of
promise. Now, what happened next was a demonstration of a people who walked
by sight and not by faith. A people who were not ready trust to God. Even
though God had repeatedly demonstrated His unmatchable power; even after He
broke the spirit of the Egyptians by the ten plagues, opened up the Rea Sea
and guided them through the wilderness in a pillar of cloud by day and in a
pillar of fire by night, still they couldn’t find it within themselves to
trust God.Overcoming Adversity: Overcoming AdversityInstead of entering the
promised land, the people of God decided to send some men into the land to
investigate it. Now, many think that it was God’s idea to send the spies into
the land but it wasn’t. Deuteronomy one makes it clear that it was the
people’s idea. Oh I know that in Num. 13:2 we find God saying to Moses, “Send
thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan…”, but that was after the
Israelites had first suggested such.Why did the Israelites want to send men
into the land? Well it was obviously for investigative reasons. They wanted
to find out what kind of land Canaan was and what kind of people inhabited
the land. But may I suggest to you that this was an idea that sprang forth as
a result of a lack of trust and reliance on God. Think about it! Why did the
land need investigating? The people already knew what kind of land it was
because God revealed it to Moses and Moses told them. |
