31 But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.
How quickly and easily almost anyone can get their eyes off the Lord’s provision. Moses has just received instructions about how and when to move camp. When the cloud of the Lord moves, they are to move. When the cloud stops moving, they are to stop. Now Moses’ father-in-law says he is going to return to his land and not travel with the Israelites. Moses gets spooked. Read the verse again. He is trusting his father-in-law for the things the Lord has just promised to provide. This is misplaced trust. We all have it from time to time. If these words were spoken to the Lord, they would be fine. But instead, they demonstrate that Moses is still growing in his faith and in his understanding of the Lord. Even after leading the people through all the plagues in Egypt and in the deliverance through the Red Sea, Moses still has some lack of faith. He still slips and falls. The next chapter shows how the Lord helps Moses. He sends him a trial that he can’t handle. Moses cries out in desperation and the Lord answers, thus increasing his faith.
The Arnold Journey 