Preparing for the Promised Land
The people of Israel celebrated their first Passover just before their return to the Promised Land. This was after 430 years of exile, many of which were in slavery. The process by which they were delivered was one filled with great demonstrations of God’s power. They witnessed that their God was faithful to deliver what He promised, even amid humanly impossible circumstances.
We might think that the faith of a person who has lived experiences like these would never depart from God, but this was not the case for hundreds of thousands of Israelites who were delivered from slavery.
They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? – Exodus 14:11
“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” – Exodus 16:2-3
But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” – Exodus 17:3
The people of Israel were about to receive their promise, but they focused on the complications of the process rather than focusing on the blessings that they were about to receive.
And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! … Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” … “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” – Numbers 14:1-4
They forgot the manifestations of the power of God who delivered them from Egypt. They preferred the “security” that gave them a life of slavery, rather than walking in a process of dependence and trust in the certainty of God’s promises. Their bodies were free, but in their hearts they were still slaves. This is the problem: the Promised Land is not for slaves but for the free. The attitude of these people caused their whole generation to die in the wilderness without receiving the promise.
We also have a call to enter the Promised Land. But this is a not call to enter a nation on the earth, but the eternal kingdom of God. Our call begins when we receive Jesus as the Savior who rescues us from the slavery and hopelessness that sin brings to our lives.
We do not have to go through the wilderness to reach our Promised Land, but we have to go through a desert of moral and spiritual decline. The circumstances of our pilgrimage sometimes lead us to be tempted with the idea of ??returning to our former life of hopelessness. Like the Israelites, we tend to lose our focus and see the problems bigger than they are. When this happens we must remember from where we were rescued, and that the God who rescued us is in the same manner powerful to lead us in victory to our final destination.
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
Change your look from a past of confusion and despair to a future of assurance and conviction in Jesus.
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