In The Desert

The Israelites were known as God's chosen people. God fought for them, protected them, and provided for them. As Christians, we are God's chosen people. He fights for us, protects us, and provides for us. Like the Israelites, there are times that we are completely aware of God's great work in us and around us while there are also times our eyes are focused on only what we can see. The Israelites experienced great miracles of liberation and were joyed by their protected deliverance from slavery. They walked through the parted Red Sea and said goodbye to the old life as a result of what the Lord had done for them. This sounds a lot like a mission trip. After, the Israelites spent much time traversing the empty, desert as they followed the Lord's presence. They thought that they weren't "doing anything amazing", but they were. They were learning to depend on God, they were developing a stronger faith, and they were following God. At times, they were unaware of this though. Sounds like coming home from a mission trip.

 I know what it's like to go on a mission trip and have a hard time returning. Not only is it hard saying goodbye to the people you love and the "mission" lifestyle you leave behind, it's frustrating coming back and feeling like you aren't doing anything. So many times we hate on the Israelites, because we are in shock that they could complain to the God who did amazing things for them. But this is so many of us. I am an Israelite. Sometimes I feel like my time in the "desert" is pointless. Sometimes I wonder, probably as did the Israelites, why time in the desert is so long. However, the Lord has opened my eyes to see that my time in the desert is so very important for a reason: this is where Christ wants me to be and this is my preparation. Spending time in the desert might seem like the easy part. That is not the case. The desert is brutal; brutally beautiful. The Lord continues to remind me that just because this is my time of preparation for what He has inshore for me does not mean that He is not working in my life now. Preparation is His will for me right now. I know without a doubt that God is working in and around me, because I see it and I know my God. It's my job to join God where He is at work. It's my job to surrender to Him daily. It's my job to keep my eyes on Him. These "job's" aren't really jobs just acts of faith that bring contentment and joy like no other. Because you can have joy in the desert. Because God is who He is. He is I AM WHO I AM. He never changes. His identity is truth. His character is always relevant. 

 Things I'm learning in the desert: 

1) The amount of times that my little brother, Will, asks 'Why' is obnoxiously annoying. In one of many exhausting, conversations we held where he asked 'why' over and over again, I realized how many times I am the little, annoying "why questioner" to God. I realized just how many times God hears that question from His children. "Why would you allow this to happen?" "Why, Lord?" Just how I think Will's questions are just silly, God must think are questioning Him is absolutely absurd. Because it is! How dare we ask why to the God who's wisdom is beyond are comprehension and who's love never changing. How dare we question our great God. 

 2) Sometimes my little sister, Lena, loves to be held. She reaches up, and I know exactly what she wants as I pick her up. She knows that I will always hold her. On the other hand, sometimes I just want to hold her, but she has her eyes on something else. She is too busy to be held. So many times we miss God holding out His hands to us to hold us, because we are too busy or focused on something else. This is heartbreaking. Sometimes all God wants to do is hold His children. That is amazing, yet we so often miss it. 

 3)It's all about loving God. That is our purpose in the miracles and in the desert. That never changes. However, I often get distracted thinking that I should be doing more so that those around me can see Christ. I get too focused on letting others see Christ in me that I forget that my only purpose is loving God. As an overflow of my love for God, I love His people. But I cannot love these people into heaven. That's God's job. I just have to love Him and let His love do the work.

"And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM', thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you'." - Exodus 3:14

"This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome." - 1 John 5:3