Day 33

Exodus 15:19–17:7; Matthew 22:1-33; Psalm 27:1-6; Proverbs 6:20-26

AFTER THE MIRACULOUS final victory over the Egyptians at the Red Sea, God guided His people into the wilderness. This was certainly not the direct route to the Land of Promise, but there was much work to be done. The people had been slaves for centuries. No one alive could remember otherwise. Slave was their identity. And that would need to change if they were to be set apart and made holy to God.

God chose the wilderness to change the identity of slave to chosen. It wouldn’t come any easier for them than it does for us. Yet the wilderness seasons of our lives are some of the most important, for they give us no option but to wholly trust in God. This trust is vital to knowing God, which is why the wilderness is where much of our character and identity is formed.

In the wilderness, God miraculously provided water. But one month after their Exodus from Egypt, they were hungry.

“If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned to Moses. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death” (Exodus 16:3).

It’s jarring to hear the grumbling of Israel’s children when we know the kind of power and authority it took to set them free. They were living in the middle of a promise that had taken centuries to come to fruition. How strange to watch them lamenting about the “good old days,” when not long before, they had been slaves in Egypt. What should jar us even more is how familiar it all starts to sound. When we are in the wilderness seasons, all we can think about is getting out, and grumbling comes easily.

Our identity must shift if we’re going to know God intimately. We cannot miss the purpose of the wilderness. God may be guiding us, gently but deliberately, through the desert because the journey forces us to trust Him wholly for all that we are and all that we will ever be.

We are no longer slaves to sin, friend. With God, we are chosen. And sometimes, it takes the wilderness for us to believe that.

MEDITATION:

The LORD is my light and my salvation —so why should I be afraid? The LORD is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?