Faith is no leap in the dark. Over the centuries, God has given ample proof of His trustworthiness.
Sometimes it’s helpful to start at the target and work backwards. Let’s begin this lesson with the last verse of Deuteronomy 29. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (v 29). Moses is making a great point. How many people fuss and bother about the things they don’t understand in the Bible, but completely ignore the obvious commands in it! Mark Twain put it succinctly: “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me; it’s the parts that I do understand.” Throughout this chapter, Moses is building the case for trusting God. He begins by reminding the Israelites they were witnesses to “all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt” (v 2). They had a front row seat to the humbling of the world’s great superpower with what? Earthquakes and lightning bolts? No, with flies and frogs and the like. But the children of Israel hadn’t just been observers of God’s miracles in judgment. “I have led you forty years in the wilderness,” said Moses. “Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out” (v 5). He went on to remind them of God’s provision of manna from heaven and water from the rock. But it wasn’t just daily provisions. Did they have any proof that the Lord would give them victories over the Canaanites? Yes, that too! “When…Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle,…we conquered them” (v 7). And do we have evidence? Yes—fulfilled prophecies, Christ’s resurrection, thrilling conversions, answered prayers, revealed truth, and so much more. We have such convincing evidence that God can and should be trusted.