Courage to Trust | Exodus 16

Have you been watching the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina? One of the most fascinating and unsettling events is downhill skiing. It’s a sport that’s a blend of incredible skill, real courage, and crazy. These athletes stand at the start gate, looking down an icy mountain, traveling downhill at 80mph, knowing that every fraction of a second matters, every turn must be trusted, and the margin between victory and disaster is razor thin. I want to know what it was like the first time they went down the hill; the first time must have been insane! Downhill skiing requires more than talent. It demands confidence in preparation, trust in the process, and the courage to lean forward when every instinct tells you to pull back. Years of unseen training lead to one defining moment, where trust determines whether you freeze at the gate or launch into the run. In many ways, that’s what trusting God looks like. Not waiting until fear disappears, but choosing courage, step by step, when the path ahead feels steep and uncertain, to follow the journey God has for you. But to get to that place of trust, it often takes years of preparation, injuries, setbacks, and suffering.  

Israel has been redeemed by the blood of a lamb and has now crossed over to the other side of the Red Sea in freedom. Their freedom was immediate, but trusting God had to be learned. Now they are in the wilderness, unsure of what is ahead, tempted to go back but are being invited by God to trust Him one day at a time as they journey to the promised land. Does that sound familiar? If so, that is the Christian life. We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; we have crossed over by faith into a new life of freedom and are invited by God to trust Him as we journey to the ultimate promised land. But the journey in the wilderness is preparation that leads us to the promised land. In Exodus 16, we find the courage to trust as we confront our discontentment, depend daily on His grace, and delight in resting in Him.