The Sojourning Heart
I grew up in church hearing all the Bible stories we now tell our own children; Zacchaeus, Samson, David and Goliath, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, and of course those crazy Israelites. I can distinctly remember my irritation with the people of Israel, particularly their grumbling in the wilderness, and the way they tested God. Honestly, how could they have lived through the plagues, the Passover, the parting of the Red Sea, the giving of the Ten Commandments -God’s presence manifest on the mountain…and still doubt or question God?
How could you take hardened slaves from an oppressive dictator, give them freedom, and in a few short months have them clamoring to go back to Egypt to do “business as usual?” Time and experience has helped me to be a bit more understanding and even recognize my own propensity to fall into the same sins.
My first thought is initially on the difficulty of such a large group traveling together.
We, in America, are all accustomed to a certain level of comfort. Oftentimes, what is best is not what is easiest and traveling through the desert with all my relatives and neighbors sounds like no walk in the park particularly if we are carrying everything we own, and it’s hot….really hot….and water is scarce.
God is so good. He knew the Israelites would need to become a stench to the Egyptians, otherwise they would never have let them leave. God also knew the people would be hard pressed to leave the comfort of what’s familiar unless He stepped in. Inevitably, someone wasn’t going to be happy. Things were going to get stressful and Israel’s relationship to the Egyptians was bound to be estranged.
What places are familiar to you? What things do you allow in your life, not because they are “good,” but because they are comfortable? How are you afraid to step out in faith?
Sometimes we may find ourselves wanting to minimize the difficulty of where we’ve been and sugarcoat our past. We may find ourselves exaggerating our current trials, focusing on the wrong things, and making mountains out of molehills. We remember the past with rose-colored glasses, diminishing the severity of it’s consequences, and even neglect to appreciate the new, God given, blessings in our life.
Then there is the matter of the Israelites’ grumbling attitude. For them, it was a symptom of their faithlessness. As the Israelites show us, complaining, is dangerous. Grumbling is not just an attitude problem it is a heart problem and it often turns into anger and bitterness.
God is in perfect control, so, as hard as it is to admit, all grumbling is (at its root) a matter of trust–specifically, the lack of trust! Contentment comes from a deep satisfaction in the will of God. This requires a broad and heavenly perspective that is saturated in trust. A lot of times when God calls us out of a place or situation things do not immediately get better.
There may be an interim period where you are made to climb the precipice before there is any felt relief. Still, other times, the relief may be long off, years or decades in the future, or perhaps beyond this life itself. Abraham, the father of faith, saw with spiritual eyes what he did not behold in his own lifetime. Some of God’s promises were seen and tangible in Abraham’s life but others were a long way off.
For he(Abraham) was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. These all died is faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Hebrews 11:10,13.
There are no guarantees that our expectations will always be met, our comfort retained, our rights administered, or our own way realized. When we are called to wait, we may be tempted to question God or even the choices we may have-very recently- been so sure about.
Trust is often required to the extent of change an act of obedience produces. It’s easy to give and trust God when we only give out of our excess, it’s a bit harder when we are asked to give sacrificially.
God is often calling us out of our complacency into new and difficult places. Are you listening?
Never forget how good of a Father God is. He is always loving, and kind, and will only ask us to endure what is for our best. While what is best is not always easy, we must measure things from an eternal perspective. We must see things as God would have us view them and only He can help us in doing this. Sometimes God calls us out and it doesn’t seem to work in our favor. In life, our struggles are very real and present, but struggles should not be labeled as “bad” or “wrong” just because the feeling isn’t pleasant, or the sacrifice great.
If you are finding yourself in an area where God is calling you out, let me encourage you that He will go with you. Move forward with your whole heart. God has the ability and right to initiate changes in our lives that we may not want or have any control over. Such things often make us irritable and angry but it is always for our good. God is always refining us. Just as Jesus learned obedience through suffering, we will learn obedience and patience through our difficulties (if we are willing to be taught by them) and we may find we have outgrown the worldly places that were once so dear to us.
From Egypt to Israel and this life to the next we will walk through difficulty. Let us seize the moment and be faithful today, while we are able, for one day all struggles will cease; but what is done in faith today, we will lay at HIS feet.
