Day 118: Walking Through the Desert

Today we are going to continue with yesterday’s theme of, this idea of stepping into the desert out of bondage.

Deuteronomy 8:2, Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

We are all aware that the Israelites wandered through the desert for forty years. A journey that should have taken a few weeks ended up taking forty years because of the Israelites disobedience, complaining, and grumbling. They held themselves up. Today we aren’t going to go into too deep of detail about that (not yet), but we are going to talk about the journey. Yesterday we talked about stepping into the desert, today it’s about walking or journeying through the desert.

The only way to the promised land was through the desert.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned in my life is that the journey is more important, than the destination. Getting there is what is important, it’s what counts most. We cannot skip over what it takes to get to where we are or where we are going, there’s always going to be a journey and it is in these desert places that we grow the most. Which is why we often hear people talking about the journey more than the destination, there's some hills and valleys to go through first. We have to walk through those hard places, and learn some lessons in the desert. Now, one thing I must say is that our generation is the generation of immediacy. We want everything immediately, and with technology, online shopping, and social media we don’t have to travel far to get it.  We want God to do things for us, but we don’t want to go through the desert with Him. We want Him to take us places but we only want to be there for the final destination, not the journey. Life doesn’t work that way, if we want something we have to walk through the desert to get it, the same way the israelites had to walk through the desert to get to the promised land. The promised land wasn’t coming to them, they had to go to it. God has prepared a promised land for us, but we have to go to it. He opens doors for us, but we have to walk through them. We have to take the journey to get to the places we need and want to go. The journey is so important because there are some things we have to drop along the way. There are some things we have to leave in the desert.

There were some things they brought out of Egypt that couldn’t go into the promised land, they had to drop it in the desert.

A lot of times God takes us through the journey to teach us, and help us grow. In the desert we are completely stripped of all things that will lead us away from God. We cannot take the attitude of bondage into a land of freedom. I believe that, that was one of the reasons it took them forty years to get to the promised land. God had to make sure that they were not entering the promised land with the same things they left Egypt with. There is always a purpose to the journey, there is always a testimony in the desert.

Reflection/ Prayer time

Talk to God about the passages today, allow His love to serenade your heart. Thank Him for the journey you are one, even the valleys and deserts we have to go through.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Thank you for reading, share this with someone and make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 119! For those of you entering finals week or the last stressful parts of the school year, or college, you are in my prayers.