With the world given over to wickedness, a lone man and his family strove to maintain a trust and faith in God. One day God spoke to the man and told him the world was to be destroyed by a great flood and all things with the breath of life would be destroyed. His salvation and the salvation of his family would be found in an ark he was told to build. Noah did according to all God commanded him to do.

In these stories and so many more we find the meaning of faith and trust. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that we must have faith to be well-pleasing to God. In our faith we must believe that God is and that He will reward the faithful. Faith comes by our hearing the word of God and the word of God living in our lives each day. Trusting in God is the evidence of our faith in Him.

The meaning of faith and trust does not always include the understanding of why things may happen to us. Noah trusted in God and did as God commanded him too - whether he understood the judgment of God or not. He could have argued with God about whether it was a righteous thing to destroy the whole world. He did not - his trust was not measured by his understanding of God's judgment but rather complete faith in His God.

Abraham trusted in God without an explanation. His faith was not based upon his reasoning or his need to know why he had to leave for another land. Many years later this faith would be tested as God told him to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham so trusted in God that he did not question or ask why - he obeyed.

Moses could have had the best the world had to offer but choose rather to suffer affliction because he trusted in God. Did he seek to understand the grand scheme of God in brining the children of Israel to Egypt to suffer? His faith was based upon his trust in God - with or without understanding. Job was overwhelmed by such tragedy and sorrow few men know. God never told Job why the events of his life happened. He did tell Job to trust in Him - and he did. Trusting in God does not always mean that we understand why things happen the way they do.

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As a young boy his life was filled with love and honor. He had every thing to live for and blessings were bestowed upon him in every way. His father especially showed his love as he was the son of his old age. To show his love for his son, a tunic of many colors was woven and given to the young boy. The boy's life was marred by the hatred his brothers felt for him. They hated him so much they could not speak peaceably to him.

Matters became worse when the young boy told his family of some strange dreams he had and how they would all bow down before him. This caused the hatred of his brothers to increase and they envied him greatly. The father pondered these matters in his mind as to what they could mean.

Some time later they young boy was sent by his father to see about his brothers. As he approached them, he was unaware of the hatred that had boiled over to a conspiracy of death by his brothers. Saved only by the plea of an older brother, the young boy was cast into a pit that was empty. As the brothers sat down to eat they saw a company of foreigners coming by and decided to sell their brother for gain rather than kill him.

In an exchange of a pauper's price, the young boy was lifted up from the pit and sold as so much property to a group of strangers on a journey to a distant land. Bound in security for the long journey, the young boy wearied along the road to slavery. No doubt thoughts ran through his mind as to the events of the day. One moment as was calm and peaceful and the now he finds himself a slave to be sold on the auction block in a foreign land.

What had become of his beloved father and what would be the news borne to his ears? When would he be able to see the faces of his family and friends again? No answer would be given. The auction was finished and he was led away to serve as a slave.

He had every reason to hate his brothers, his life, his state of slavery and most of all he had every reason to hate the God that he served for allowing this kind of pain and suffering to overwhelm his life. He had every reason to hate but one: he loved God! The focus of his life and the trial that would be in the years to come would be guided by his love for God. He would succeed in the house of his master only to be imprisoned on a false charge of rape. He would succeed again in the prison only to be forgotten for two years by an official he had helped.

It would seem that everything was against him at every turn. Yet - through faith and love for God his life became an example of forgiveness and dependence upon God. The greatest measure of his love for God came the day he was given second in command of the whole nation and before him stood the same brothers - who many years before had hated him so much - and he wept. As he revealed himself to his brothers he bore out his soul in love and mercy. He took away their fear that he would do anything to harm them or their families. The most joyous day came when he beheld his fathers face once more.

Bread is representative of both the kinds of bread itself and of food in general. The staple of life is based upon the curse God imposed upon man because man choose to partake of the fruit God had said he was not to eat. In man's disobedience, labor and toil would be the penalty for his sin in the physical world and in the spiritual world. In the midst of this dark moment a promise was made of a Seed to come - a Seed that would bring salvation from the curse of sin.