In the Wilderness

"Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”—Numbers 11:4-6

Are you in the wilderness right now? Has God taken you out of a situation that you hated, but you couldn’t stay in it any longer? You welcomed it at first. But now you find yourself in a period of uncertainty and you have found that you hate that even more than your past pain and now you find yourself longing for the comfort of that old situation. Is that you? In the wilderness, the temptation for each of us is to look back at the old days and remember them with fondness like the Israelites did. They were facing great uncertainty—limited food options, moving from place to place without a true sense of direction, a nagging question, and fear of where they would end up, unsure of what was ahead. Living in tents, trying to establish new routines apart from their old way of life, dealing with the questions from their children, and opinions from family and friends. In the wilderness, the weeds of doubt can crowd out the fruit of faithfulness. They started to think back to the good old days when they had free fish and fresh produce. Never mind the pain of their past situation. Never mind their slavery and the mistreatment of their people. Past pain is minimized in the furnace of present uncertainty.

It got so bad that when they faced a negative report of the obstacles that were ahead (Numbers 13:25-33) that enough was enough. Rather than face the so-called giants of the land, they were going to go back to what they knew in Egypt (Numbers 14:1-4). Isn’t that the temptation for every child of God—to go back to what we know and can predict rather than to step ahead in faith?

Faith is what God desires—to believe and trust in what we know about Him—to recognize that He is the one who has the sovereign control of your life and then you can rest in that fact. He is working something that you cannot understand. He is working in your life and in your circumstances to bring about something that you cannot grasp yet. Resist the temptation to complain. Face the questions from family and friends with the belief that He will bring all things about for His good purpose and your joy. Don’t turn back. Don’t believe everything you hear from others about what is ahead for you. Trust in the Lord, take heart, believe in Him, and trust in His character and He will guide you out of the wilderness into what He has—and it will be glorious. Amen.