I like to pray while I'm walking the dog. Nobody interrupts me except an occasional squirrel or two. I was enjoying the blue sky and praying for the kids and the Lord spoke this to my heart: "I will meet them in the wilderness". Then I talked to the dog. "Hey, Hammie, what does that mean?" Dogs are not real great for interpretation, but his ears went up.
When searching "wilderness" in the online Bible lots and lots of references came up for the time when Moses and the Israelites wandered in the desert. There was so much complaining going on and it sounded a lot like long trips with the family. ARE WE THERE YET? I'M HUNGRY. WHO DIED AND MADE YOU QUEEN? Yet God continued to provide for them. Light, fire, food, water, clothes that didn't wear out. Really. Read the whole thing, I can't type it all here. You know what happened next? They all rejoiced and thanked God, right? Nope. They spit in God's face.
We have all had our personal trips through the desert this past year, and we are still standing in the hot sun waiting for the promised land. We're tired, and complaining, and we want what we had before. TAKE US BACK TO EGYPT. ENOUGH, WE'D RATHER BE SLAVES. WHAT THE HECK ARE WE HERE FOR?
"I will meet them in the wilderness", He said. I believe it was a reminder to me that God is here. He is here with me on days when I want to shake the sand from my toes and crawl into my tent and not come out. He is there with my children as they navigate this broken world. He is with you in whatever place you are currently wandering. Stop being so noisy for a minute and look around. God continues to provide for his people. Grieving? God is here. Sick? God is here. Unemployed? GOD IS HERE. Not a single one of us is abandoned. God stands before us as a pillar of fire in the darkness. Quit trying to put out the flames.
Go read Isaiah 35. Right now. Go read it.
35:3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come,...
35:7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
35:10 and those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
