40 years in the wilderness

In a time of transition or change the question that you need to ask yourself is 'can I weather the storm?' Most of us probably can't answer that honestly because we all think we are prepared to deal with the transition but the truth is most of us are ill equipped for such a time. We look at our time in the same way that the Israelites must have looked at the their time in the wilderness! We expect to pass through the tough times relatively quickly and without pain. The truth is that just like the Israelites who could have passed through the wilderness quickly, we extend the time in the wilderness through a lack of faith and a lack of understanding. The Israelites had come from a period of bondage! A time of captivity and darkness. They were used to being bound, tied, beaten and persecuted. They spirits had been broken, their self esteem as a nation was probably at the lowest of lows! They were told by their oppressors that they were worthless and had seen their people killed without the confidence and power to rise up and fight back! Then God stepped in and he brought them a deliverer! Someone he had personally appointed to go before Pharaoh and plead their case! He was had been given a rod by God as a sign of his calling! A rod which represented the authority he had from God. Instead of the Israelites clinging on to this deliverer they turned and cursed him for the pain that came as he strived to secure their freedom. They failed to realise that just like a woman giving birth, their is a period of pain to bring forth something beautiful and precious. Following many miraculous demonstrations of Gods power, the Israelites were freed from their oppressors! Not only did they leave with their freedom they left with the wealth of their oppressors and food for their journey. God took them from a low point to a blessed position. Following their freedom they went into the wilderness and forgot everything that they had just seen God do for them. They returned to their mind state of bondage! Their faith in God vanished. This was in a time where God was providing them with manna from heaven. They were in the palm of his hand though they were in the wilderness but instead they looked at what was before them and turned on their deliverer. They choose to forge idols from gold and worship them instead of worshiping the living God. They despised the blessings of God and sought to find their way out of the wilderness on their own.

What we fail to realise is that Moses as the deliverer of the Israelites is symbolic of Jesus and the deliverer of all mankind. We (like the Israelites) have seen God do amazing, inexplicable things but when in the wilderness we return to our old ways and rely on our own strength. We forget the grace that God has poured out to us. We forget that the victory over all situations and circumstances was won once and for all when Christ died at Calvary. Every obstacle and limitation that we face was nailed to the cross and we have victory! We forget that we have life and life more abundantly so nothing we face can defeat us! We are the reason why a stroll through the wilderness becomes 40 year journey. We become legalistic and assume that our slip ups and our failure to read the word or any of those other things can separate us from the promises of God. The definition of grace is "unmerited favour" meaning we can't earn it, just as no man can earn their salvation. It is a gift from God which is freely given and unlike man, God does not take back what he has freely given.

Until we stand up and remind ourselves that we are saved by grace and we cannot earn anything that God gives us, we will not realise all that he has in store for us. We will take the long way round all our challenges and times of transition. We will skirt around the outside instead of walking boldly down the middle knowing that we are victorious and covered by the grace of Jesus Christ our saviour! 

I constantly have to remind myself of this fact. There is nothing that has the power to hold me back or stop me from fulfilling what The Lord has planned for me; why? Because I am saved by grace and his grace redeemed and freed me once and for all. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways, his decisions will be filled with uncertainty and confusion! If we constantly waiver between faith and the law we are unstable. Jesus said "I did not come to do away with the law but to fulfil it". Jesus knew he came to die and to be the ultimate sacrifice! He came to fulfil the law once and for all. This was so that we could be free from the constant need to atone for our sins! His death on the cross was the full and final atonement for all sin. When Jesus rose from the dead, he rose with all power in his hand and all authority. We rose with him in new life free of the bondage of the law and clothed in his righteousness by grace. This is our hope in times of despair and our guide through the wilderness. Hold on to this truth and you will find your way out of your wilderness in a timely manner.