“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

During this past week I was praying and seeking the Lord for His wisdom regarding what to write in this blog entry. I was asking God for a new revelation with regard to the story of Passover, for a connection to my current blog series about Israel and as always, for a personal application for us today.

The LORD gave me one word: TRUST. As I thought about it, I saw clearly how this word is a common theme between Abraham, Moses, and His followers today.

Let’s start with Abraham. God told our Father Abram to: ““Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Beginnings (Genesis)12:1-3

I find it interesting that verse 4 starts with the statement that “So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him”. God called Abram for a task; the task came with a promise of a blessing. Abram had to choose to trust God in order to follow God’s call. The call required Abram to do something, which would require great faith in God and in His promises.

When reflecting on the story of Abraham, it would have required a lot of faith to leave everything that he knew, everything that was familiar to him, and go to an unknown place to follow an unseen promise. But he did…and the results were amazing.

In the story of the Pesach (the “Pass Over”), we see a connection to the promises of God and His faithfulness to fulfill them: “So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Exodus 2:24

God remembered the promises that He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He continued to show His faithfulness to His people through them. Just like with Abraham, in the story of the Passover, God chose Moses and called him to a great task, which required a great amount of trust in the midst of some impossible circumstances: “And the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.” Exodus 3:7-8

Unlike Abraham, Moses required some convincing on God’s part. Nevertheless, the result was that Moses did follow God’s commands and went back to his people in order to deliver them out of slavery into a Land that God had promised.

When reflecting on the story of the Passover, it would have required a great amount of faith on Moses’ part not only to return to Egypt, the land from which he fled, in order to demand the deliverance of the sons of Israel from Pharaoh, but also to convince them to follow him. This was no easy task! He needed to convince them that God still cared for them, and that he was a messenger from the Almighty God who displayed His might in the plagues through Moses. He had to convince the people that, despite the numerous disappointments of being set free only to be enslaved again, God was going to lead them to a land flowing with Milk and Honey…in a supernatural, miraculous way.

In my next blog entry, I will address more how this applies to us today. However, until then, I would like to encourage each of us to reflect upon the daily tasks that God calls us to do. Are you in the midst of a reality that seems impossible? Does it seem that God is slow to fulfill His promise to you? It is my prayer and hope that you will choose to trust God in the midst of this situation, and wait upon Him to show you His faithfulness.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach (Happy Passover)!

Moran