The preacher said something Sunday that has really stuck with me. It was finally their year of victory, but the year didn’t start out that way. It was like an arrow straight to my heart.
Of course she was referencing the Israelites who had just wondered the wilderness for the last forty years. They were finally about to make it. God had made this promise many years earlier. Exodus 3:8 says, “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.” Even after this promise from God, forty years later, they were still wondering.
Now these forty years weren’t just a wait on the Lord kind of thing. No, the Israelites had put themselves in this situation. They murmured and complained and quickly forgot all that God had done for them. In Exodus 32, they decided they should make their own god to worship because Moses was taking too long on the mountain talking to God. Only eighteen chapters earlier in Exodus 14, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry land. God provided food and water for these people and took care of them at every turn, yet they complained and sinned against God.
But don’t we do the same thing? We find things not going our way and we begin to complain. Now, I’m not saying that you can’t ever feel down or sad or upset about a situation. After all God is the creator of all, including our emotions. We just can’t live there and we can’t forget who God is. I’m also not saying that every situation you encounter is a result of something you did wrong. Sometimes God has us on a road for some reason we don’t know, but trust me, He has a purpose.
Maybe this is your year of victory. Maybe God has made promises to you that He has yet to fulfill. Maybe it’s taking much longer than you anticipated. God does not want to leave you in the wilderness. He wants to bring you to the promised land even if you don’t see it until Glory.
This year has been hard for our family. So many things have been going on with Witten. We’ve struggled financially. We’ve faced custody battles. It just hasn’t gone the way it seems it should have, but it doesn’t mean this isn’t our year.
No matter where you are today or what you’re going through, God hasn’t forgotten about you. He is still for you. Keep your eyes on Him no matter what. Sometimes He will remove the obstacles around you, but sometimes He will just see you through. No matter what, keep your eyes on the One who is in control. He will lead you to the promised land.
Ribbons and Lace 