“Wilderness seasons prepare us for the Promised Land.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – December 14, 2024
And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Exodus 16:3, NKJV
There is a mistaken yet widely held belief in our day and age that says following the Lord is a path that is free from pain and difficulty. Thus, to follow this position to its logical conclusion, if you are experiencing a trial or are suffering in any way, you must not be walking in the “abundant life” promised to you by God. Instead, your pain is surely a result of your own poor decisions and lack of faith in the guiding hand of God.
Though we may think this belief is a modern one, it is as old as time itself, and we see it most clearly in the story of the children of Israel. Having been miraculously led out of slavery in Egypt, they found themselves questioning everything in the desolation of the wilderness. How was this better than what they had before? Was it actually the guiding hand of a good and merciful God that led them to this place? Where was that Promised Land they’d heard so much about? As we see in Exodus 16, it got so bad that they found themselves longing to return to slavery where meat and bread were guaranteed rather than starve in the so-called freedom of the wilderness.
Here’s a central truth that I find to be the key to understanding the goodness of God in a story like Israel’s wilderness wandering: Wilderness seasons prepare us for the Promised Land. Israel was not ready to immediately enter the Promised Land from their life of slavery in Egypt. No, what was required, though undoubtedly difficult, was a season of purging and refining, of having their trust in the Lord tested through the fire of adversity so they were made able and capable of entering the Land as his people. The same is true for you and me today.
I find it quite helpful to view our earthly lives as a form of wilderness wandering. And not just wilderness wandering, but wilderness preparation. When we begin to believe the lie that earthly comfort and pain-free living is to be expected, it is likely due to the fact that we’ve lost sight of our true heavenly home. You and I were made for eternity, yet we must become men and women who are capable of eternity. We are made for communion with the Holy Trinity, yet our lives must be transformed in this present life in order to commune with him for eternity.
And so, when life is difficult, and you feel the aridness of the desert, do not be dismayed and do not lose heart. Begin to see that in your trial, the Lord is purifying you and making you ready to enter the Promised Land of his kingdom.
Prayer
Father, prepare us in this present life for our eternal home with you, and give us the courage to endure whatever we may face so that we may know your perfect love, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
How does Israel’s story of wandering in the wilderness help to reframe your own present-day trials?
Related Reading
Deuteronomy 8:2-3; Romans 8:18; James 1:2-4
Worship Resource
Jeremy Riddle: Psalm 63
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