A Biblical Reading Plan

It can be hard to trust people and sometimes even God. Sometimes you do trust but then something

happens and you begin to question.

This 7-Day reading plan offers biblically based and thought provoking readings and scriptures to help

you deepen your relationship with the Lord by trusting Him more.

Table of ContentsDay 1:Day 2:Day 3:Day 4:Day 5:Day 6:Day 7:

Tainted TrustObstacles to TrustTrusting the LordBattling AdversityFear and TrustTrust in the LordTrusting God’s Plan

Day 1: Tainted Trust

God instructs Moses: “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites” (Numbers 13:2). The recon team spends forty days in stealthy exploration. They return to camp with good news and bad news.

It’s a land flowing with milk and honey, they say . . . but a fierce street gang who call themselves the Anakim roam the neighborhood . . .

Fearless Caleb speaks up and says, “Let’s go wipe ’em out and seize the territory!” His intimidated cohorts protest, “No way! They’ll have us for breakfast.” The Israelite community vacillates, then starts weeping and wailing . . . They believe in God. They have faith in Yahweh, and yet — because of fear of the Anakim — they abandon hope in his promise that they will take possession of Canaan. With the exception of Moses, Aaron and Caleb, despair contaminates the Chosen

People. Confronted with stronger battalions, faced with apparently insuperable obstacles, they allow their trust in Yahweh’s guidance and protection to collapse. But faith in God without hope in his promises is tainted trust.

How well we know the Israelites’ conundrum. Hesitation and uncertainty prevail. The craving for tangible reassurance of God’s faithfulness increases. We press for more convincing proofs of abiding, divine presence. When they are not

forthcoming, we decide to take control. Safety is our only passion. In a spiritual life charged with ambiguity, we cannot afford to make mistakes. Endless analysis replaces creative action. The willingness to risk is submerged in a raging sea

of nagging doubts. We must have absolute clarity before we can proceed.

What we have failed to learn is that clarity, reassurance and proof cannot create trust, sustain it or guarantee any certainty of its presence.

Taken from NIV Ragamuffin BibleSee next slide for related Scripture

NUM.13.26-33

They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anakthere. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amoriteslive in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Day 2: Obstacles to Trust

Edward Farrell, author of Prayer Is a Hunger, maintains that the three greatest obstacles to trust are amnesia, inertia and mañana. We are all subject to forgetfulness of God’s

faithfulness in the past, laziness to act on the divine promise and postponing until tomorrow what Jesus is asking of us today: childlike abandonment in trust.

Taken from NIV Ragamuffin Bible

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 2 “Take a census of the Kohathite branch of the Levites by their clans and families. 3 Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of

age who come to serve in the work at the tent of meeting.4 “This is the work of the Kohathites at the tent of meeting: the care of the most holy

things.

-Numbers 4:1-4

Day 3: Trusting the Lord

The splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved gives God more pleasure and delight than Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel and all the other human glories

combined. Why does our trust offer such immense pleasure to God? Because trust is the preeminent expression of love. Thus, it may mean more to Jesus when we say, “I trust

you,” than when we say, “I love you.”

Taken from NIV Ragamuffin Bible

Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. 30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, 31 and in the wilderness. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a

father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, 33 who went ahead of you on

your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

- Deuteronomy 1:29-33

Day 4: Battling Adversity

At least four of Jesus’ disciples — Peter, Andrew, James and John — made their living as fishermen. Certainly they knew of Galilee’s infamous storms. Yet on one occasion, they panicked when a storm arose. Jesus woke from his nap, rebuked them for lacking faith

and then calmed the storm. For us, storms can rise quickly as well: a dark spot shows up on an X-ray; a pink slip lands on our desk at work; a kid gets in with the wrong crowd at

school; a parent dies; the stock market tanks. When these “winds” rise, remember Jesus. Trust him first — no matter how overwhelming the storm appears.

REFLECT & PRAY:

*What storms in life do you find most difficult to face?*Why do most of us struggle with trusting God first?

*When you’ve trusted God during difficult times, what has resulted? How can those experiences help you place your trust in him during the next trial you face?

Taken from NIV Busy Dad’s BibleSee next slide for related scripture

MAT.8.23-27

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Day 5: Fear and Trust

The Gospel of Luke tells us that the Jewish religious leaders wanted to get rid of Jesus because “they were afraid of the people” (Luke 22:2). Fear of losing their influence and of

the consequences of social unrest fueled their hatred of Jesus and contributed to their desire to have him put to death. We have our own fears, usually less dramatic — loss of

security, position, influence, approval, reputation, income and much more — and we make compromises we know we shouldn’t make.

Our fears usually prove to be a snare for us, and they all stem from not trusting God. Fear is behind peer pressure, compromise, an unbridled pursuit of wealth and security, and

much of what we do for affirmation and approval. Fear diverts us from an uncompromising commitment to God and his plan for our lives. The remedy is trust: a

choice to depend entirely on God for all we need in every area of life.When we trust him completely, no one can intimidate us. We are free to live as he wants

us to live.

Taken from Once a Day 31 Days of Wisdom

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.

- Proverbs 29:25

Day 6: Trust in the Lord

Trust in the LORD. “Commit your way to the LORD” (Ps 37:5), like Israel’s ancestors, who trusted in God and were rescued (Ps 22:4–5). with all your heart. Like Caleb (Nu 14:24; Dt 1:36; Jos 14:6–14) or the godly King Hezekiah (Isa 38:3). David challenged Solomon

to serve God “with wholehearted devotion” (1Ch 28:9).

Taken from NIV Study Bible

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

-Proverbs 3:5

Day 7: Trusting God’s PlanThe situation looked hopeless. The 2.5 million Israelites desperately needed food and

water. When God didn’t provide for the Israelites in the way they expected, they became angry and accused God of taking them into the wilderness to starve them to death.

But they failed to recognize that God saw their predicament and had plans to take care of them. He supplied them with “manna.” “What is it?” was the people’s first reaction when

they saw it on the ground (verse 15). God’s food was unusual, but that shouldn’t have come as a big surprise. After all, these were the same people who had miraculously walked

through the Red Sea.

Why did God meet their need in this way? God wanted the people to depend on him, to have complete faith in him.

This passage shows that God will do whatever is necessary to provide for his followers so they can accomplish his purposes. While he may not meet their needs in predictable ways or supply every single need, he will make sure they have enough. God has reasons for his

methods — a higher purpose and plan that we can’t see. Like Moses, we need to trust God and wait for his provision in our lives.

Taken from NIV The Journey BibleSee next slide for related Scripture

EXO.16.3-4

The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

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If you enjoyed this Reading Plan be sure to check out:

• NIV Discover God’s Heart Bible• NIV Case for Christ Study Bible• NIV Streams in the Desert Bible• Find Hope in Christ by Focusing on His Promises• NIV Men’s Devotional Bible• NIV Real-Life Devotional Bible for Women• Once-A-Day Nurturing Great Kids Devotional• Fulfilled: NIV Devotional for the Single Woman• NIV Dad’s Devotional Bible