Fashioned for the Journey
I traveled with Steve to San Diego for his ELC Leadership Conference this past week. While the timing is less than perfect for me, the location was breathtaking, and thankfully, I can work from anywhere. As a matter of fact, I’m writing this blog in the St. Louis terminal as we await our final flight home.
Looking out the window from 30,000 feet above the ground gives you a different perspective of what is below. Leaving San Diego, we flew over a massive amount of desert bareness before seeing any population hint. Eventually, green pastures covered the ground with houses dotting the landscape, and I knew people were alive and well below. Such a comforting feeling!
As I pondered that thought, I realized our lives mirror that experience. We walk through many barren moments where all we see is bleakness, waiting for a new horizon to present itself before our eyes. I’ve been there, and I am sure you have been too! The good news is this: the Bible is filled with others who have also walked through bareness, and their stories encourage us to keep going. To name a few:
Abraham and Sarah were barren, but Isaac was eventually born (Genesis 21:5), fulfilling the promise God had given Abraham twenty-five years earlier.
Moses spent forty years in the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) before God raised him to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. Then, the Israelites wandered in the desert for another forty years before entering the Promised Land.
Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers (Genesis 37:18-36), where he stayed for more than thirteen years before God raised him up to become the second in command to Pharaoh, which saved his brothers from extinction.
And, of course, there is Jesus, who spent forty days in the desert (Mark 1:13) being tempted by Satan before He began his earthly ministry.
If we are not careful, we can get so focused on our desert experiences that we forget they will not last forever. A new horizon is up ahead, and we need to keep moving.
God takes us THROUGH the wilderness –we are not to park our story IN the wilderness. God has us on a journey. There is always more, and He is teaching us valuable lessons along the way,
Read what is written in Deuteronomy 8:15-16 to the children of Israel:
“Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good.”
Landing at St. Louis, among the population again, I am thankful that the wilderness part of the flight is over. However, I’m still not home, so another segment is yet to be taken. I don’t know the terrain, but I know that God is with me on the journey.
He’s with you too! Thank you for taking the journey with me this season,
Liz
