Trusting God in The New Year

The life of Moses is an excellent lesson for all of us. He shows us that true success in this life happens
when we fully trust God and are obedient to His Words.

We Can Overcome Memories of Last Year’s Failures

Numbers 14:2 And 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!”

Moses had led them back to the place where they had already been forty years before. It was the place where they had decided not to trust God and go forward.

The Israelites were at the landmark of lost life and time wasted. It was a monument of their failure,

To go forward in any meaningful way, they had to over come the memories of past failure. Today, it is called mid life crisis, where we look back and are reminded of what we didn’t do, regrets, and that has to be overcome.

We Can Overcome Adversity

Numbers 20:5 And wherefore have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.

Adversity often comes by way of our surrounding circumstances. For Moses, it was mainly
the environment; they had no water.

We Can Overcome Our Emotions

Numbers 20:1 Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. Miriam. Moses’ sister, had been the one who had placed him in the Nile years ago, and saved his life.

Exodus 2:7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?”

We Can Overcome Criticism

Numbers 21:5 And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, “Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul hates this light bread.”

The people criticized Moses for the lack of water. From day one they had criticized Moses for his leadership. From the time they left Egypt, a place where they had been in bondage, they started undergoing changes. But they did not like it, for it stretched them, so they criticized him.

Is success really simply overcoming all the adversities in this life?
Is that all it is?

No, Moses is a clear example. True success only comes when we are pursuing & obeying God.

Moses sought God with all of these difficulties, but even that is not all there is to success in this life.

Moses sought GOD. He turned to God for an answer to the problem that he faced.

Numbers 20:6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.

He sought God time after time, to have God’s instruction about what was happening.

Success is not just overcoming adversity, or seeking God. It is acting on His response, His Word. It is obeying God. Many would look at Moses and say He was a success, but really he failed at crucial times, in crucial ways.

He failed with His attitude. He didn’t really trust God. We are often guilty of the same thing.

Numbers 20:12 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron. Because you believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

This was his only outward sin in the forty years of leading the people. God takes the sin of the leadership seriously. The lack of obedience has serious consequences.

If we measured our success by our obedience to Jesus today would we be seen as SUCCESSFUL?

How will we function; what will we do as an individual this year? Do we continue sinning, believing there is no hope and no way out or through ‘our particular situation’? Will we overcome adversity, seek, and see God, and still fail because we don’t trust Him and do what He says? OR

Will we decide and nail down: In 2018: I will passionately pursue and obey God. If we will, then we will be successful with God.