Things feel dry right now. Uncomfortable. I’m both grieving and storming heaven for things, for something to break. I’m tired and trying to figure out what it looks like to let God strengthen me. And for some time now I’ve been dissatisfied with my place in life. Frustrated at the lack of forward movement, and the years that keep disappearing while I wonder what I have to show for them.
I’ve been in need of perspective, and today it floated down through the book of Numbers. I know, right?
The nutshell version is that God rescued this hoard of Israelites from the grip of Egypt, and then led them into the desert. Took them the long way instead of the shortcut, so they wouldn’t have to battle an enemy. He knew they would have gotten scared as rabbits and hightailed it back to Egypt, back to slavery. Back to what was familiar.
The wilderness was overlooked as the gift it was meant to be. A place of safety, provision, and even rest. A place where they could learn to know their God and to worship Him in a hard place. He met their hunger with manna, and their thirst with water from a rock. They had so much opportunity to witness His goodness and His power, but they wished for something else. Something more. They wanted to be in a different place. So they complained and voiced their fears, and God called it all unbelief. And what could have been a temporary season became the rest of their lives, as they wandered in their wilderness until an entire generation died.
Perspective. Am I overlooking the gift that this season is meant to be?
I can still long for His promise, while trusting the manna and the water He provides in the wilderness. I can choose to know Him deeper in this place, and to be thankful for His presence with me here.
The wilderness holds miracles and the power of God, the leading of God, and the love of God that draws us into the desert so we can know Him there, worship Him there, and trust Him there.
I don’t want to miss that because I’m longing for something else.
Karla Jo Wasion 