Dear Family,
Today is Friday, April 14, 2023. Today is Day 6 of Week 1 in our Count to Pentecost.
The ancient Israelites had a destination. They had a promise from God that was centuries old. God was certainly going to lead them from Egypt to that promised destination.
Yet, they had a wilderness journey to experience. A wilderness journey involves both time and testing through facing specific problems.
It turned out that Israel’s journey was much longer than it needed to have been. They ended up in the wilderness for forty years. The time was extended largely because of the many wrong choices they kept making. Of course, those wrong choices culminated in the situation they experienced when they reached Kadesh Barnea and refused to go into the Promised Land because of the giants living in the land. It was this crucial act of unbelief that finally triggered God’s decision regarding their long stay in the wilderness.
How about us today? In a lot of ways, through the decisions we make daily, we affect, at least to some degree, the length of time we must be in our wilderness. We also encounter situations, through our daily choices, that affect whether our wilderness journey will be “easy” or “hard.” It all depends on the choices we make when we face the problems we encounter.
However, the testing could actually be fairly easy. How?
God tells us the answers and responses He wants from us. In essence, He gives us the answer sheet.
The answers:
- He definitely wants to be trusted
- He wants us to know with absolute certainty that He has our best interests in mind
- He wants us to hold steady instead of complaining and being fearful
- He wants to be loved as well as to be obeyed
- He wants to be thanked and praised
- He wants our true, devoted worship
Deuteronomy 6:3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
Ephesians 3:20 Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.
As-long-as we want to go with God and cooperate, He will take us through our wilderness to our destination – our DESTINY! May God bless us with the conviction that He will!
Ben Faulkner, Pastor
©2023, Church of the Sovereign God