Who Are You Going to Believe?预览

An Important Question

When I think back to my adolescence, I can define myself as a bit of a rebel. I remember that one Saturday night a festival had been organized at a soccer club for the whole community. We had gone with my friends from school and as we were hanging out near the parking lot, we saw the car of one of our teachers. Thinking it would be a good prank, we walked over and raised the windshield wipers, then drove off and forgot what we had done.

On Monday, upon returning to school, we heard an announcement over the loudspeaker: both my friends and I were summoned to the principal's office. Upon entering, we met our teacher, the owner of the car, who was accusing us of having scratched it with a rock.

Apparently, someone had played an even bigger joke than us and had blamed us for the simple fact that we had been near the car.

Long story short, they called our parents and suspended us for two weeks, even though we told them we had only touched the windshield wipers.

As my dad drove home in silence, I kept trying to explain to him that it wasn't us, but he kept believing what the teachers had said. Until, finally, I yelled at him, "Who are you going to believe, them or me?"

Months later, the student who had scratched the car admitted his responsibility, and the school apologized to us.

But the question I had asked my father reminded me of the question that the people of Israel had to answer when the spies returned from inspecting the Promised Land.

In Deuteronomy 1, Moses refers to the story found in Numbers 13, and if we read carefully, we can see that the idea of sending spies into the Promised Land was not born out of God's heart, but out of the Israelites' unbelief. Moses knew that God had given them that land, but his men convinced him to choose the best of the people, the leaders of each tribe, to go and inspect the place. That decision showed weakness, fear, lack of trust and lack of faith.

There are moments in our lives when we are faced with different options, different paths to choose from. It is in those moments when we must answer the question, "Who am I going to believe?".

Prayer: Lord, I ask You to help me to believe You and to answer the question correctly. I thank You that Your promises still stand and that there is nothing that can thwart Your plans. In Jesus' name. Amen.