Tuesday, April 3

on wandering


Right now I'm reading through the book of Exodus. It's a pretty intense story if you read it. A story about enslaved people for 430 years and then it takes 10 plagues before the Pharaoh let them go. 430 years before they were free. Now that's patience.

But the story reminded me of my own life. Being enslaved to my own thoughts, insecurities, past, but God was still faithful and set me free from it all. Now that's a great story; such a nice happy ending.

Except when you read the rest of the story it talks about how God didn't take the people on the most direct path. He made them wander in the wilderness. He took them on a path that might not be as scary, so they wouldn't turn back and enslave themselves again.

Such a life lesson there. A lot of times God doesn't take us on the most direct, and usually what seems to us to be the most obvious, path. He takes us on a journey that will be better for us, even when it doesn't seem to be. That is just so much my life story and probably pretty similar to your own. It takes patience and trust to follow through the wilderness. And for me I usually have the path figured out and exactly how I'm going to get there and where I'm going to need to stop for gas.

But life is so much like the exodus. We wander in expectation. We have to be patient and trust that He is faithful. Oh but that being patient thing is so hard. It's hard when you just want that part of life to start right now. When you want to start college, or that new career, marriage, owning a home, starting your ministry, having a family or maybe even retirement.

Patience is a part of life.It's a lesson that I have to relearn often. But sometimes wandering in the wilderness can be a beautiful route, albeit slower,but maybe, just maybe, we can bask in the journey.

1 comment:

kristyn ellen said...

Well, this was exactly what I needed to read RIGHT in this moment!