Wandering in the Wilderness

Are there modern day wilderness wanderings? Times when the Lord has brought us out of Egypt and loosed the chains of slavery in order to move us to freedom…but the exodus turns into a journey, a wandering in the wilderness? I wonder…

It says in Exodus that the Lord heard the cry of the Egyptians and came to their rescue. What about this cry was different from all the other cries that had been lifted up on their behalf in 400 years? Was it a cumulative effect? Was God just tired of hearing them whine over their conditions? I don’t think so. Although we as parents get tired after hearing the same question 136 times in one day, God doesn’t. He doesn’t go into aggravation mode and shut us out. (You Moms know what I’m talking about: if you didn’t hear, “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom”, over and over you might have to check your pulse to see if you had in fact had a Calgon moment or you might start looking for Jesus and streets of gold!) So, what was it that made this time, the time? Just that, time, or more precisely, time-ing. I constantly have to remind myself that God isn’t looking at his watch, or mine for that matter, as He works in my life. I on the other hand have a strong tendency to obsess over my own sense of timing…it seems that the two are never the same…can I get a “Amen?”

So, FINALLY after 400 years in slavery the Israelites are getting their first taste of freedom in a miraculous way! They are seeing seas parted, food falling from the sky and water coming from rocks! Not just that, but they stood idly by as the Egyptians begged them to take their possessions…(“well, if you say so”)..and the same sea that parted for them washed over ALL of Pharoah’s army right before their eyes! I seem to think that if I had seen all of that in one day that I would never question the Lord again. “Overtake giants in the land? Yes, Lord. Conquer a city with a few trumpets? Yes, Lord. Hang out in a fiery furnace? Yes, Lord. Love my neighbor as myself…Yes, Lord?? Give ten percent of all I have…yes..Lord??? Wait on your timing in my life….Lord?”

Aren’t we smart? Aren’t we so quick to cast a stone at the Israelites? But, God desired to teach them a few things first so, it says in Exodus 13:18, “God led the people AROUND by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea.” Just a minor detail that is easily overlooked. However, let’s not miss the fact that God could have taken them straight to the Red Sea but the cloudy pillar led them by way of the wilderness. “Wilderness” is a term that refers to land that contains little vegetation or trees and because of a sparsity of rainfall, it cannot be cultivated. So, basically we are talking about one big desert.

The Israelites spent approximately two years in the wilderness traveling toward Canaan, ie: The Promised Land. During this time God had much to do in reestablishing his covenant with His chosen people. You see, after 400 years in captivity the nation had been assimilated into the Egyptian culture as the older generations died off and new generations were born. The generation that participated in the Exodus was not familiar with anything other than slavery in Egypt. Although some traditions were probably passed down, the freedom to worship was taken away along with all of the other freedoms that a slave is denied.

So, for that initial 24 months the Lord spent time instructing His people, through Moses, on how to live as a holy nation, a chosen people BEFORE He brought them into the land they were to possess. Nothing God does is a coincidence! Therefore, the tiny detail of Exodus 13:18 served a great purpose: God was preparing His people! Why? No doubt if the people had gone straight from the exodus into the promised land they would have been a “little” Egypt. There would have been no distinction, no separation, just a replica of the pagan culture they had been enslaved to and a part of for centuries!

We can easily draw several conclusions from this study:
1) God is never random about anything! He is purposeful when it comes to everything!
2 ) Wilderness wanderings, which seem to have no purpose but to frustrate us, are necessary parts of God’s will for our lives, even today.
3 ) The pagan culture in which we live runs deep and it will take getting away with the Lord to retrain our minds.
4 ) As a Christian, being “set apart” from the world is still just as important as it ever was. Peter reiterates in the New Testament, “You are a holy nation, a chosen people. Therefore, be holy as I am holy.” (1 Peter 2:9; 1:16)

If we were to continue on, we would learn that as soon as the people reached the edge of Canaan, on the very verge of seeing and possessing the promised land, they turned back in unbelief. As a result of their disobedience, the Lord kept them from entering the land for another 38 years and all of the people over the age of twenty, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, died in the wilderness. The very people who saw all of the miraculous moving of the hand of God during the exodus died because of their disobedience.

Can you image making one final decision of disobedience that sentences you to death? Well, if you can’t, then you should. Because the fact is, every single act of disobedience from the first to the last sentences us to death…because it is sin. But God…don’t you love that statement? BUT GOD, in His great grace sent Jesus to pay the penalty in full for our disobedience. We don’t have to die in our disobedience! Praise God!

So, in closing I have two very important questions for us to ask ourselves in light of what we have just read: First, do you trust God? Second, are you thankful for Jesus?

“Lord, keep us from being so focused on the wandering and the wilderness. Keep us focused on you, trusting your plan for our lives even when everything looks desolate. Help us to understand that you have purpose in every part of the journey. Make us thankful for our exodus from slavery and our freedom in Jesus Christ no matter where we wander.” Amen.