During
the course of my reading this week I came across this statement, “The ability
to precisely define reality is the starting point for any hope of equilibrium.”
They are simple words in one sense but very profound at the same time. I
believe one of the greatest challenges in a believer’s personal journey is the
ability to see and be honest with himself about his own condition.
Think
about the Nation of Israel as they left Egypt and journeyed through the
wilderness. It had only been three months since their leaving Egypt. They had
watched as God rescued them from Pharaoh. At the hand of Moses, they had been
given from their captor wealth, freedom, and now they are guided by God Himself
through the pillar of fire and cloud. They have experienced starvation and
bread from heaven. They were literally thirsting to death and had their thirst
quenched from a rock. If there ever were a people who understood what it is to
be discombobulated, it was Israel.
Sometimes
as children of God, we allow the distortion of this life to mess up our
equilibrium– spiritual vertigo if you will. However, in reality and from what
we see in Scripture, God was and is right there all the time!
There
are a tremendous amount of life lessons we can learn from the Nation of Israel
during their wilderness journeys. For example, often times we confuse God’s
presence with plenty. God’s presence in our lives doesn’t equal material possession.
The Israelites were moving just as God instructed; they were led by the pillar
of fire by night and a cloud by day.
Can
we be honest for a moment? I don’t like that! They were doing what God asked;
they were following instructions, and yet God still led them to a place that
didn’t have water. Be honest with me; how many of you have ever felt, or currently
are feeling, that you’re doing everything your supposed to do, you’re following
God, you’re really putting your best foot forward, and God leads you to this
dry and desolate place?
Listen,
that’s a view from the trenches, that’s our perspective. Let me give you a view
from the throne; “Dear children, if you’ll just go where I lead you, there is
not a place I will lead you that I will not sustain you!
In
every aspect of life, there is perplexity attached to it— perplexity that takes
us to our limits and draws us near to God. It is in the midst of the struggles
of this life that we learn that this world does not hold any finite answers.
And it is in that unrest and dissatisfaction that we are forced to look beyond
the limits of this earth to an unlimited God!
Pastor
Barry
