People of the Bible
Those who had faith in God
Abraham
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. (Genesis 12:1-4)
Noah
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. (Genesis 6:13-14)
Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. (Genesis 6:22)
Those who bargained with God
Gideon
And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. (Judges 6:16-17)
And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.38 And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. (Judges 6:36-40)
Jacob
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,21 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God:22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. (Genesis 28:20-22)
God wants us to completely trust Him. When we try to bargain with God, we are saying we do not trust Him. We have a better idea. We do not.
Remember, God knows all, sees all, is everywhere at once, and powerful enough to change any circumstance in an instant.
Is that good enough for our trust?
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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