Day 117: Stepping into the Desert

Exodus 14:10-14,As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’” But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again.  The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”

Exodus 16:3, “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”

Numbers 14:4, Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”

The people of Israel were in bondage for four hundred years. They were slaves to the Egyptians, and throughout those four hundred years they cried out to God, praying and begging Him to free them from bondage. So God goes, “I’ve heard the cries of my people, I will free them from this bondage and give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” He sends Moses, and long story short, Moses goes to Pharaoh like, “Let my people go!” and Pharaoh is like, “No”. Then God sends all these plagues and Pharaoh is like, “Take them!” Then as they are leaving Pharaoh and his army decides to go after them, and God parts the Red Sea for their ultimate escape, and Pharaoh and his army drowned in the Red Sea. Then their is a journey they have to go on, before they can get to the place of milk and honey. They have to walk, they didn’t have cars back then all they had were horses, carriages, and sandals. Seeing that they were slaves most of them probably didn’t even have that. And it was Africa, they were near the equator, lots of dry land and heat. The Middle east was the same, desert and heat everywhere, there’s no escaping it. They had to go through the desert in order to get to the promised land.

Now the Israelites cried out to God to be free, but before they were even completely out of the sight of Pharaoh and his army they were begging to go back. They were complaining that it was too hard. THis was before they crossed the Red Sea. They saw the people who had them in bondage for four hundred years coming towards them and for a moment forgot who was really in control. I love Moses’ response to them as they are freaking out and having meltdowns. He seems to be at peace with the whole situation. He’s like, “Chill y’all, chill out God’s got us.” God will not bring us out of something and not see us all the way through. He will always make a way, to the Israelites it looked like it was over. They were caught between the enemy and the sea, but here comes God being God, splitting the water so they could walk on dry land to get across that sea. God won’t bring us to the sea and not give us a way through or across it. Not only did God make a way  for them to cross the Red Sea and out of bondage, He drowned all the oppressors in the Sea. They could no longer pursue the people of Israel. There was no one to come and take them back, if they went it was solely their choice. Which brings me to my next point.

What do we do when the grass isn’t greener on the other side. Not in a sense that where they left was better than where they were going. They had to do some gardening if they wanted that grass to be greener. Meaning what do we do when we realize we have to grow the grass; we have to do some planting and watering, and waiting before anything pops up from the ground.? These are the things the people of Israel faced, they had to go on a journey before they could get to the Promised Land, they weren’t teleporting there. They had to walk through the hot desert, and at some points they said, it would be better if we had stayed in Egypt. In this specific passage the people were in the need of food, they were hungry. They were probably hangry, and the angry part of that word go the best of them (giving them the benefit of the doubt). I don’t know, all I know is sometimes hanger makes you a little crazy. Now the people are complaining to Moses and they’re all, “At least when we were in Egypt we weren’t dying of starvation, you brought us out here to die.”  It seems like every time the journey got hard, they started to reminisce about what it would be like if they were still slaves. It wasn’t the best life but it was better than this, or that’s what they thought. God heard the cries of the people and He gave them bread from heaven in the morning, and gave them meat to eat by night. Then in Genesis 17 the people are once again complaining because they are thirsty, and God hears their grumbling, He gives them water, from a rock. From a rock!

THe israelites got what they wanted, but when the saw that it wasn’t exactly how they wanted it they were ready to go back to their old lives. But the most profound thing about this story is that if the Israelites had never stepped into the desert they would have never experienced the true glory of God. They would not have witnessed the miracles, they would not know that even when there seems to be no way, with God there is always a way. It was only when they lost faith that they started to regret leaving Egypt. But sometimes, sometimes we have to step into the  desert and watch God work. We have to venture into the unknown, we have to go places we don’t go. Stepping out into the desert is taking a step or leap even when you don’t know where you foot or feet will land. That’s called faith. If God can split an entire sea, if he could make bread and manna rain down from heaven, if He can give us water from a rock. What more can He do? God won't lead us to the sea and not give us a way through it. He won’t lead us into the desert without making sure that we are taken care of.

When we ask God to bring us through or out of something, we have to be sure that we are ready to walk into the desert. That we are ready and willing to trust Him. I know we get mad at the Israelites for doing all of this stuff. But that is or has been many of us as Christians. When things get hard, we think or even sometimes vocalize that life was a lot easier when we were living in the world. I can tell you that the trip back will be just as hard, as the trip there, the difference is one has a reward, and the other is just old news that we decided to turn back to.

Reflection

1. Can you Identify with the Israelites?  
2. Have you ever thought about going back into the world when life as a Christian gets hard?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Whatever stood out to the most today bring it God in prayer. Just talk to HIm, have an open conversation with the Lord.

I love you, and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. I love you so much, make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 118!

Day 84: A Step In the Right Direction by Alex Molloy

Today we have another guess writer, Alex Molloy a friend of mine. Alex is the Service Pastor of Story Philly in Center City Philadelphia. He is an amazing person and has a heart for Jesus and I am beyond excited to share that with you today. Enjoy!

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
These are the words of 35th president JFK

As I look back on my life, my path has led me to a series of wonderful places; starting in London, with stops in Paris, Beijing and Sydney along the way, my path has wound itself to the east coast of America, namely Philadelphia. I’ve experienced hot weather and cold weather, great hospitality and great hostility along the way, but one thing is for certain. If you asked me where I’d be in 10 years as a 16 year old in school, Philadelphia probably wouldn’t have been on my radar. Being the service pastor of Story Philly, a center city church certainly wouldn’t have.

The truth is the destination I often found myself at when I was living a life away from my family and more importantly ignoring the call of God upon my life was always riddled with turmoil and discontent. The reason for this? My direction was way off. Any great pioneer arms him or herself with a compass, and mine wasn’t working, and when it did, I chose to ignore it. Because of that,  I found myself on the wrong path.

You see, whatever road you’re on determines where you end up, the path taken determines the destination. If I planned on driving to L.A., route 40 may be a good start, I-95N wouldn’t as I’d end up in Canada before long. Canada is a lot colder than California. Living life on the wrong path can result in destination a lot colder and more barren than intended and expected (no shade to Canada, it’s a beautiful place). You see, it’s not about intentions and expectations but rather direction.

Intentionality often seems great and noble. God however, isn’t interested in those with good intentions but those who display good actions and embody just characteristics. Too often it can be said about this generation that we’re slow to move, capable of recognizing the need, but end up doing nothing. Don’t be a we-really-ought-to-do-it-but-do-nothing kind of person. Because as Pastor Andy Stanley puts it, direction, not intention, determines destination. It’s the steps of the righteous that God orders and delights in, not the intentions.

Aha, so we need to be taking steps. And in front of me seems like a million and one different paths I could take. What should my next step be? There’s a little saying I’m beginning to live by; DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING.

Doing the next right thing can seem very difficult with a lack of information which we all have. It’s important to know that decisions made today have ramification later on. The path you take now in your 20s impacts your 30s. We can never know all the possible outcomes each path we choose to live will have. In order to do the next right thing, it’s not about trying to predict the future.

Proverbs 3:5
In every arena of life, trust in God, lean hard into Him, lean not into your own understanding

When it comes to the choice of our life paths I make the common mistake to think I’m wise enough to be able to lean on my own understanding. What God tells us to do is the complete opposite of this. There is no need to try to predict and decipher every possible outcome to any possible decision. All we need to do is trust in God and allow him to lead us. How do we do this? The next line of the proverb shows us:

Proverbs 3:6
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

When we live our lives submitting every single compartment of our hearts, our minds and our decisions to God and Heaven’s story, He will make your paths straight. It’s as simple as that (note I said simple not easy!). In order to commit to the God direction for your life, you must first submit. Submit to commit! Living a life where submission precedes direction results in God making all your paths straight.

There are so many things we entrust God with essentially because we have no choice or control in the matter such as eternity or our health. However, what God wants is that same trust and faith with what we do have control over; our relationships, our jobs, our finances and what we do with our time. Evaluate a relationship, a job or any decision on where it’s heading, not where it is.

One of the most important characteristics of a leader is one who knows what direction they’re heading and are relentless in their pursuit forward. Submit to commit, live with a God component in every single compartment of my life and be faithful with what is in your hand.

Reflection/ Prayer Time

As you pray ask yourself if you on the “God path”? Talk to God about what it means to be in His will and going in the direction that He is pointing. As you pray, ask God for direction and seek that direction knowing that He is pointing you the right way. Even when it looks a little gloomy, He’s pointing you in the right direction, have faith and move according to His will.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 85!