“And the LORD said: ‘I…have heard their cry…for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them…and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land.’” Exodus 3:7-8.
Have you ever prayed for something so faithfully and for so long only to receive the desire of your heart through adversity? That is exactly what happened to the Israelite's while in Egypt. They had a life there, and while it wasn’t the life they wanted, they had jobs, ate well and were surrounded with friends and family I’m sure. But their hearts longed to be in another land…another place…free from the captivity of their current circumstances. God saw their hearts and heard their cries to relocate them to another place. He answered their prayers, but not the way they wanted. God could have taken them from Egypt straight to the land flowing with milk and honey, but He wanted their hearts more than their comfort. God led them His way to their desired land to make them more dependent on Him, and for them to learn about His faithfulness and provision. It wasn’t long before they lost sight that He had answered their long-awaited prayers, instead focusing on what they still didn’t have.
Can’t we be just as guilty as the Israelite's when we face adversity? We initially are grateful that God has answered a prayer. But in our hearts, we secretly object to the way He gave us what we desired. Just like the Israelite's, we quickly forget the blessing and instead focus our eyes on the unresolved circumstances in our journey. If the Israelite's would have maintained a grateful heart for what God had already done, and trusted Him for what He was going to do, they might have entered the Promised Land much earlier. But instead, it seemed that they were lulled and entranced by the same warning that the first line of John 10:10 cautions us. ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’
God will not keep us in our deserts any longer than the amount of time it takes to accomplish His purposes in our hearts. But we must take caution during the wait. We have an adversary who watches us in our troubles. He reminds us of what is still unresolved, and he deceives us by triggering our fear. He steals any joy we have found and kills any hope we are hanging onto. He intentionally tries to destroy any gratitude we have for what God is doing by painting the dark colors of uncertainty over the beautiful canvas of our new beginnings that God is painting. ‘Distorting God’s goodness and His good gifts has been a goal of the enemy since he first slithered onto the scene in Genesis 3.’ Trustworthy, Lysa TerKeurst, p. 95. God intended us to live beyond a ‘just-enough’ life. He calls us to live an ‘all-abundant’ life through Him even while we wait on Him. When we guard our minds, hearts and ears against any messages from Satan, we will return to the joy, hope and peace that can only come through the whispers of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment