God’s Best for Those Who Trust Him

God’s will is not just one option among many. God has a best, and second best can look harmless at first, but it can leave people wandering and wondering like Israel at Kadesh Barnea. Israel had seen the Red Sea split, manna fall, water come from the rock, and yet unbelief kept them out of the land. Unbelief was not merely doubt about circumstances. Unbelief was refusing to trust that the God who had been faithful would still be faithful in the next hard thing.

Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness shows how the enemy offers “the next thing.” Satan questioned the Father’s care, invited Jesus to make a spectacle of Himself, and offered Him kingdoms without the cross. Satan’s offer was always a little compromise, a shortcut, a way around the Father’s will. Jesus answered every temptation with the Word of God because bread, visibility, power, and even an apparent end to suffering could not be worth stepping outside the Father’s purpose.

The contrast between God’s best and the next best runs through Scripture. Abraham reached for Hagar under pressure. Eve reached for wisdom apart from God’s word. David reached for what he saw from the palace wall. Judah refused God’s Sabbath years and eventually received forced rest in Babylon. Sin may offer something that seems reasonable, useful, or even good, but something good is not necessarily God’s thing.

Grace does not make compromise safe. Paul’s question, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” receives the strongest answer: “By no means.” The prodigal in the pigpen does not belong there, even when he has made a wreck of things. Christ in a person creates a new desire, a desire to get out of the mud and come home.

Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman opens the door of hope for every nobody from nowhere. Jesus must needs go through Samaria, speak to a woman others despised, and offer her living water. Jesus tells her that if she knew the gift of God and who was speaking to her, she would ask. The issue was not whether Jesus was willing to give. The issue was that she did not yet know His heart well enough to ask.

The knowledge of God changes what people dare to bring before Him. God’s grace invites big asking even after failure, not entitlement, but confidence in His mercy. The torn veil means everybody can come near, but God’s Word must be sought if His character is to be known. God still picks up broken pieces and makes something beautiful, but His best belongs to those who leave the choice with Him.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God has a best for life. God’s will is not vague indifference toward the choices people make. Israel’s wilderness failure shows that redemption from Egypt did not automatically produce trust for the Promised Land. God can redeem broken decisions, but His redemption should not make second best seem acceptable. Faith takes God seriously when He says there is a better way. [45:14]
• 2. The next thing can become catastrophe. Satan rarely presents compromise as outright rebellion. He offers a shortcut, a reasonable solution, or a way to get a good result without waiting for God’s way. Jesus refused every route that bypassed the Father’s will, even when that route appeared to end suffering sooner. The end never justifies means that reject God’s direction. [57:39]
• 3. Grace creates hunger for holiness. Grace does not leave a saved person content in the pigpen. The flesh still pulls toward old habits, but Christ within creates a growing grief over sin and a desire to return to what pleases God. A person may stumble badly without wanting to make peace with the mud. God’s grace both forgives and changes the direction of a life. [64:16]
• 4. Knowing God teaches people to ask. Jesus offered living water before the Samaritan woman understood who stood before her. God’s generosity can seem impossible when people only know Him as distant, disappointed, or hard to please. Grace becomes real when failure no longer prevents honest, bold prayer. Those who know His name put their trust in Him.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [39:10] - Paul’s Prayer for Open Eyes
• [40:49] - God’s Perfect Will and Second Best
• [43:47] - Israel’s Unbelief in the Wilderness
• [46:25] - Jesus Baptized and Affirmed by the Father
• [50:53] - Satan’s Temptation in the Wilderness
• [57:39] - The Danger of Small Compromises
• [62:08] - Grace Does Not Excuse Sin
• [65:19] - Jesus Must Go Through Samaria
• [68:08] - Living Water for the Samaritan Woman
• [71:16] - God Gives His Best
• [73:14] - Knowing God and Asking Big
• [80:44] - Do Not Settle for Less
• [83:41] - Communion and a New Beginning

Bible Reading

Matthew 4:1-11
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.' But he answered, 'It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."' Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, "He will command his angels concerning you," and "On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone."' Jesus said to him, 'Again it is written, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test."' Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, 'All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve."' Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.” [46:18]

John 4:7-15
“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.' (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?' (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink," you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.' The woman said to him, 'Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.' Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.' The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” [01:05:19]

Numbers 14:1-38
“Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, 'Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?' And they said to one another, 'Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.' Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, 'The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.' Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, 'How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.'... And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. Say to them, "As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.” [44:12]

Observation questions

1. In Numbers 14, what do the Israelites remember and say after hearing the report about the land, and what do Caleb and Joshua urge them to do?
2. In Matthew 4:1–11, what needs or desires does each of Satan’s three temptations appeal to, and how does Jesus answer each one? [57:39]
3. What does the Samaritan woman seem to understand about “living water” at first, and what does Jesus say this water will do? [01:08:34]
4. What barriers made Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman unexpected in John 4? [01:06:11]

Interpretation questions

1. Israel had seen God provide in remarkable ways, yet they did not trust Him at Kadesh Barnea. What does this show about the difference between remembering God’s past faithfulness and trusting Him in a present difficulty? [45:14]
2. Satan’s temptations offered Jesus real relief, recognition, and authority, but through a route outside the Father’s will. Why can something that appears useful or even good still become a compromise?
3. Jesus answered temptation with God’s Word rather than proving Himself or taking control of the situation. What does His response teach about how believers can recognize and resist “shortcuts” in hard seasons? [52:47]
4. Jesus told the Samaritan woman that if she knew the gift of God and who was speaking to her, she would ask. How does a person’s view of God’s character affect whether they approach Him with confidence or hold back in shame? [01:14:13]

Application questions

1. Where are you most tempted to take “the next thing”—a quick solution, a small compromise, or a way to get what you want without waiting on God? What makes that option appealing right now? [57:39]
2. Think of a current hardship in your family, work, health, finances, or relationships. What past faithfulness of God do you need to remember so that fear does not make the decision for you? [44:44]
3. When you are tired, disappointed, lonely, or under pressure, what kinds of thoughts most often make you question God’s care for you? What truth from Scripture could you keep ready to answer those thoughts? [51:09]
4. Is there an area where grace has been misunderstood as permission to stay comfortable in sin? What would it look like to respond like the prodigal who wants to leave the pigpen rather than settle there? [01:04:16]
5. Are there failures or regrets that make you hesitant to ask God for help, direction, or deeper change? What might it look like to come honestly to Him and ask boldly for the “living water” you need? [01:15:00]
6. What is one specific way you could seek to know God better this week—through Scripture, prayer, or time with other believers—so that you are less likely to settle for second best? [01:21:54]