Of all the sins we can commit, doubt is one of the most hated by God. According to both the Old and New Testaments, our doubts grieve the Lord, irritate Him, and cause Him a lot of pain. We see one of the first examples of this in ancient Israel, after the deliverance of God’s people from the hands of Pharaoh.
The psalmist laments: “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have committed iniquity. Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders, they did not remember Your mercies, and they were troubled by the sea, by the Red Sea” (Ps. 106:6-7).
The author admits guilt here. What was this wicked sin that Israel committed? They doubted that God would continue to deliver them, even after He performed an incredible miracle for them at the Red Sea.
The psalmist asks us to imagine God’s people standing on the seashore rejoicing after their victory. The Lord had just performed one of the greatest miracles in human history, delivering Israel from the powerful Egyptians. However, how did the same people then react to the difficulties they encountered after this? They doubted God’s faithfulness.
The author is essentially saying, “Can you believe it? Our Lord interceded supernaturally for us, delivering us from the enemy, but even after such a great miracle, we did not trust Him. How could we possibly irritate God like this?”
This was completely different from Israel’s reaction after defeating the enemy at the Red Sea. They sang and danced as they saw the mighty Egyptian army plunge into destruction: “He made the Red Sea a terrible river, and it dried up; and He led them through the deeps as upon dry land; And He saved them from the hand of the hater, and delivered them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their enemies, not one of them remained. And they believed His words, and sang His praises.” (Ps. 105:9-12).
The Israelites were singing the right song—a song of praise to Almighty God—but they were singing it on the wrong bank. Anyone can sing and rejoice after a victory. But on the side where Israel was tested, they behaved in the most pitiful manner. They didn’t trust God there at all.
Now, after they had experienced the miraculous deliverance from Egypt, the psalmist makes the following shocking statement: “But they quickly forgot His works, they did not wait for His purpose… they despised the desired land, they did not believe His word” (Ps. 105:13,24).
Do you see what’s happening here? God revealed Himself to His people in Egypt, performing incredible signs and wonders for them. Ten times He brought judgment on Egypt while keeping the Israelites safe.
However, according to the psalmist, these miracles made no impression on the Israelites. When difficult times came, people looked back and looked at these past miracles as if they were ordinary natural disasters. Moses tried to convince them that all of this was God’s action on their behalf. He declared, “The Lord used all these miracles to bring about your deliverance.” But they continued to doubt God, taking His great works for granted.
Of course, we should never base our faith on miracles alone. Rather, the Holy Spirit strengthens our faith in the Lord through our trials and tribulations. And yet, despite this, Israel witnessed ten amazing signs and wonders such as the world had never seen before. But they arrived at the Red Sea without the slightest faith in God.
God deliberately brought Israel into a hopeless situation
Israel crossed to the other side of the Red Sea. The place where they stopped was called in Hebrew “entrance to a steep rock.” This name also meant “on the brink of crisis.” God’s people were literally standing on the edge of a vast desert. However, the Lord brought them there because He had some plan for them.
In the days to come, God will supernaturally provide for every need that His people will encounter. There were no grocery stores in this desert, yet Israel would be fed with manna from heaven. There was no water there, but the Lord would bring water out of the rock to quench their thirst. There were no shopping centers there, but people’s clothes and shoes would miraculously never wear out. God has not overlooked anything.
He even loaded them with silver and gold before leading them out of Egypt. Then, when they were already in the desert, God gave them supernatural health. There was not a single one among them who was infirm or weak. God protected them from the burning sun of the desert by covering them with a cloud. At night He maintained a supernatural fire, warming them and protecting them from the desert cold and illuminating the darkness.
Israel was in no danger because God had taken care of them on all sides. But there was one thing He could not provide for them: trust and faith. Even despite God’s many wonderful care for Israel, His people continued to doubt Him.
Let me stop here and ask you one question: Why do you think God chose Israel to be His people? After all, they were a tiny and insignificant people. What was God’s purpose in taking them out of Egypt and settling them in Canaan? Was it to give them beautiful houses, vineyards, and an abundance of milk and honey? Was it to provide them with a peaceful life so that they could freely sacrifice and worship the Lord for many generations?
No. This great deliverance did not involve God bringing His people to a place where they could bask in His blessings. It is clear that God was seeking to accomplish something in His people through this experience. He brought them to the very brink of disaster, where they had to face a crisis that none of them had ever experienced.
Simply put, God wanted to train His people to become His messengers to this lost world. You see, from the very beginning His goal was to reach lost humanity. He chose Israel to be a light to the Gentiles, a shining example of His mercy and love. He wanted this world to know the love He has in His heart for every nation—even those who have sinned against Him.
The prophets of Israel knew this. They prophesied again and again that God’s law would come out of Jerusalem and become the property of the rest of the world. And now, here in the wilderness, God wanted to form the “first generation” that would trust Him completely. He wanted to testify to the nations that there is only one God, Who performs His miracles through believing people.
But the Lord will not work through people filled with doubt and unbelief. The Bible tells us: “And without faith it is impossible to please God.” Jesus Himself could not perform miracles when people did not believe: “And He did no miracles there because of their unbelief” (Matt. 13:58).
And today God continues to look for people who will trust Him completely.
Beloved, the Lord did not save us simply so that we could endlessly enjoy His goodness, mercy, and glory. When He chose each of us, He had an eternal purpose in mind, and that purpose goes far beyond blessings, fellowship, and revelation. The fact is that God is still extending His salvation to lost humanity, and He is looking for believers, trusting people whom He can turn into His instruments of evangelization.
Our Lord does not use angels to testify to His glory. He uses His people and desires to make us a special, “chosen” race (see 1 Pet. 2:9). He sees to it that His Word is vindicated in our lives so that the world will believe in Him when we proclaim it to them. He wants to present to unbelieving nations people filled with faith, who, having experienced difficult times, crushed by deep sorrows, continue to trust in Him.
We see God looking for such people in the days of Gideon. When Gideon made a call for volunteers to fight the Midianites, thousands of Israelites responded. But the Lord said to Gideon: “There are too many people with you, I cannot deliver the Midianites into their hands… proclaim in the hearing of the people and say: “Let him who is fearful and timid return and go back” (Judges 7:2-3).
God was telling Gideon, “If anyone here is afraid, tell him to go home now. I will not allow My army to be infected with fear.” God did send away the volunteers of His army, and overnight 22,000 doubters were sent home. Gideon eventually reduced the number to 10,000, but God told him that was still too many. In the end, the Lord left 300 seasoned, proven soldiers.
This should tell us something. When the Lord is looking for gospel messengers to send into the world, He is not looking to recruit them from churches where the pews are filled with fearful, doubting, untried people. He will not look for powerful, active religious organizations or highly educated seminary graduates. God uses organizations and highly educated people, but on their own they do not have the resources to be tested as God’s messengers.
So what does it take to reach lost and wounded humanity? A small army of soldiers who are enrolled in the school of trials and tribulations. God seeks those who are willing to be tried, and He enlists those who are willing to be tried by fire, whose faith He can purify and make as fine gold.
Over the years of my ministry, I have noticed one characteristic feature in the lives of most Christians. Almost immediately after God saves us, He leads us into the wilderness of testing. This was true even in the life of Jesus. When our Lord emerged from the water of baptism, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where He was subjected to a painful trial (see Luke 4:1-2). The same thing happened to the Israelites. No sooner had God’s people emerged from Egypt than they were brought to the brink of a desert crisis.
Why is this happening? This is because God is looking for people who will trust Him in front of the whole world in impossible situations. And you can be sure that the world is watching God’s servants endure troubles and trials by holding on to the faith.
We see this kind of trust demonstrated by Daniel. The envious nobles, who ruled the country together with Daniel, formed a conspiracy against him, convincing King Darius to ban prayer for thirty days. As his colleagues expected, Daniel disobeyed the prohibition and continued to pray three times a day. Although King Darius respected Daniel, he was forced, by his own decree, to throw this holy man into the den of lions.
Daniel was fully aware that the penalty for breaking the prohibition would be death, but he did not stop praying because he trusted God. He knew that the Lord would be with him in his trial.
Throughout this ordeal, King Darius watched Daniel with concern. He tried every possible means to save Daniel, but he was simply unable to do it. At the end, just before Daniel was about to be thrown to the lions, the king assured him: “Your God, whom you always serve, He will save you!” (Dan. 6:16). However, that night the king could not sleep. Scripture says that he “went to his palace, went to bed without supper, and did not even order food to be brought to him” (6:18).
If you tell the world that Jesus is your Lord – your Savior and Healer – they will watch you to see how you react in hopeless situations. Their eyes are on all who boast in God’s goodness, power, and glory. The devil also looks at us, hoping that our faith will not stand.
The psalmist writes: “How many good things You have, which You have stored up for those who fear You, and which You have prepared for those who trust in You before the sons of men” (Ps. 30:20). What are these “many good things” that God has in store for those who trust in Him in times of trial? This is an unfathomable, glorious testimony to the world that your faith can survive any situation.
How did God respond to Daniel’s faith? He blocked the mouths of hungry lions. The next morning, King Darius, rising early, hurried anxiously to see how God had answered Daniel’s prayers. He quickly ran to the lions’ den and called out to Daniel in a pitiful voice and said… “Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God! Your God, whom you always serve, could he have saved you from the lions?” (Dan. 6:20).
This is still a valid issue. Like Darius, the world longs to see evidence of God’s preserving power, and it will ask us until Jesus comes: “O Christian, I see that you are serving God faithfully. You are fasting and praying and testifying of His glory and power. But trouble has befallen you. Tell me, has your God sustained you in this ordeal? What is your testimony now that you are in the lions’ den?”
One can imagine the joy of Darius when he heard the voice of Daniel echoing from the den: “King, live forever! My God sent His angel and stopped the mouths of the lions, and they did not harm me” (6:21-22). Daniel was alive and well. But I don’t think this godly servant slept peacefully all that night. Daniel was not some kind of superman, but an ordinary one, just like we are today, and our God does not require us to act unnaturally when going through such crises. Our anxiety and trepidation at such moments is normal.
In my opinion, Daniel stayed awake and prayed all night. Every time the lion yawned and showed its teeth, Daniel must have silently cried out, “Lord, I believe, I believe that You will shut the mouth of this beast.” He held fast to his faith, and Scripture tells us, “No harm came upon him, because he believed in his God” (6:23).
One man trusted in God before the eyes of the people, and it shook the entire kingdom. The Bible says: “King Darius wrote to all peoples, tribes and languages living on earth: “… I give a commandment that in every region of my kingdom they should tremble and revere the God of Daniel, because He is the living and everlasting God, and His kingdom is indestructible, and His dominion is endless. He delivers and saves, and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth; He delivered Daniel from the power of the lions” (6:25-27).
Do you see what Darius is saying here? He extols God, not just for His natural miracles, but for delivering from the death of Daniel. This pagan king only needed to see one believer who truly believed what he preached, and he in turn declares, “I saw one man who kept a testimony of his God. He never doubted, and the Lord delivered him from the powers of hell.”
God desires for us to enter into His perfect rest.
There is a place in Christ where there is no anxiety about the future. In this place there is no fear of sudden disaster, suffering, unemployment. There is no fear of people, fear of falling, fear of losing your soul. It is a place of complete confidence in God’s faithfulness. The writer of Hebrews calls this place of perfect peace.
Such perfect rest was offered to Israel, but they did not enter into God’s rest because of their doubts and unbelief: “Those to whom it was first preached did not enter into it because of disobedience” (Heb. 4:6). The Israelis lived in constant fear, constantly awaiting the onset of the next crisis. As a result, they had no consolation in their sorrows.
If Israel had entered into this rest, God could have considered His work completed with regard to this people. But since they did not enter, the Lord continues to look in each generation for people who want to enter it: “Therefore a Sabbath still remains for the people of God” (Heb. 4:9).
God tells us, “This peace is offered to you today. There is still a place in Me where doubts and fears no longer exist. This is a place where you will be ready for whatever may happen.” Thus, His Word admonishes us: “Let us therefore beware lest, while the promise of entering into His rest remains, any of you be found to be late” (4:1).
Many Christians today know nothing of this peace in Christ. When they read terrible reports in the daily news – reports of tragedies, disasters, deaths – they are filled with fear and horror. Their prayers constantly contain the words: “Oh God, please don’t take away any of my loved ones. I will never get over this grief.”
But when you rest in the Lord, you will not give in to such fears. You will not panic or become torn apart when some unexpected crisis hits you, and you will not lose hope by blaming God for bringing you into trouble. Yes, you will experience pain, like every person living on earth, but there will be peace in your soul, because you will know that God controls all the circumstances of your life.
My wife Gwen was thirty-four years old when she was first diagnosed with cancer. Upon receiving this news, we experienced spiritual devastation. My family and I had just recently moved to New York City, where I was about to start a ministry to street gangs. Now, as I walked the streets preaching to gang members and drug addicts, I had to hold back tears of agony and fear. But the Lord constantly encouraged me: “I am faithful, David. I will not leave you or your loved ones.” God was with me in this terrible and difficult ordeal of cancer and in all subsequent ones.
But the Lord does not want our victory to be just some one-time experience. His goal is not to pull us out of a crisis so that we can say, “Thank God I kept my faith through this trial.” Yes, you may have managed to overcome this adversity, but like victorious Israel at the Red Sea, the next test will inevitably come, and it may turn out to be completely different from the previous one.
Abiding in God’s peace is a way of life. God wants us to maintain His peace and trust in Him in all our trials, knowing that our High Priest sympathizes with our weaknesses.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not talking about achieving some emotionless state of nirvana. Many New Age teachers claim that the only way to survive future crises is to harden your heart and kill all love. In short, if you just stop caring about people, nothing will touch or hurt you. Therefore, you must strengthen yourself to withstand all the troubles of life.
But God will never be glorified when His servants make themselves so numb that they become completely insensitive. His peace is not at all similar to such a state. It is about learning to trust His promise to be faithful to us in everything.
I am the father of four children and the grandfather of eleven grandchildren, and I can honestly tell you that I have never had such a case when, seeing my child in pain, I would not want to share his suffering with him. In times like these, I do everything in my power to help them recover and get them out of pain. I ask you: How much more does our Heavenly Father love us by walking with us through our trials and wanting to heal our wounds?
Perfect peace in Christ cannot be worked out on your own.
To enter into God’s rest, we must give up our own efforts and efforts. Faith alone can lead us into this perfect rest: “But we who have believed enter into rest” (Heb. 4:3). Simply put, we must set our hearts on believing that God is faithful to deliver us in every circumstance, no matter how desperate it may seem.
“For whoever has entered into His rest has also rested from his own works, just as God did from His” (4:10). When we rest in Christ, we will no longer try to maintain a cheerful appearance during times of trouble. We will not pretend to be complacent about our crisis and worry that we might give in to fear and begin to doubt God’s love. In short, our mindset no longer guides us. Now we have learned to simply trust in the Lord and trust Him.
How do we develop this trust? We seek the Lord in prayer, meditate on His Word, and walk in obedience to His commandments. You may object, “But these are all works.” I don’t think so. These are all works of faith. When we do this, we trust that the Holy Spirit is at work in us, storing up strength within us for our time of need. We may not experience God strengthening us inwardly or His power growing within us, but when the next test comes, these heavenly sources will be manifested in us.
This is the main reason why I diligently seek the Lord – I fast, I pray, I study the Scriptures, I try to be obedient to His commandments by the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s not because I’m a minister who wants to be a role model. I do this because I know that many challenges still lie ahead of me. As long as I serve the Lord, the devil will never give me peace. Great battles await me, unexpected attacks await me and, despite all the victories and peace that I have already experienced, I will always need heavenly sources to help me endure everything.
I want to be a soldier who is fully prepared for battle and knows that victory is won long before the battle begins. It is won on the training ground, in the process of training and training. When the enemy suddenly comes upon me, I will need all kinds of armor, and this armor comes from the mighty Word of God that I have hidden in my heart. And when the enemy attacks me again, I am sure that I will have the strength to resist him. I will win this battle alone with God before it even begins.
Are you a dedicated soldier who believes that God is putting His full armor on you right now? If yes, then you meet the following three requirements:
1. You are a diligent reader of God’s Word.
When you read Scripture, you begin to understand how much God loves you. If you are not convinced of His absolute love for you, you will not be able to cope with any coming crisis. You can only become convinced of His love by absorbing His Word.
2. You are alone with God in prayer every day, devoting the best time to this.
Our Lord wants us to cry out to Him in our times of crisis, but prayer in times of trial is not enough. We must seek our Father also in good times. Our faith is not reserved only for special situations. It must be the result of a developing relationship with our Lord.
3. You believe that God will not allow you to face any trial without giving you the strength to endure it.
If a great trial comes upon you, you need not worry whether you have the strength to bear it. Our Father gives grace as needed, and if you develop a close, heartfelt relationship with Him, He will give you His grace to endure trials when you need it.
God invites you to enter His rest – today! Amen.
