Episode 15 - The Best Thing About the Wilderness (Dueteronomy 8)

Deuteronomy 5:15 (NLT) - Do nor forget that He led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock.

 

Sometimes, when you have been in a place of slavery for an extended amount of time, a vast and open place of new freedom is totally scary and overwhelming, even when that vast place is a dry desert.

 

There ought to be a part of us that misses (yes, misses!) the desert trek...here's why - When we are in places that are too big for us (verse 15 calls this a great wilderness...that's a "too big for me" kind of place) those are the places that keep us right at our Father's side, sticking to Him like glue, refusing to let go of His hand.

 

Looking back, when I do a side-by-side comparision of a big, scary desert place to a season of prosperity and ease, in one of those I was not willing to step away from my ABBA Father's side...and in the other, well, I was more prone to step away.

 

I have found that any situation that draws me closer to Jesus - that's my favorite. Even if it's so very hard it's still my favorite.

 

I need to pay careful attention in my seasons of plenty so that I do not forget the Lord.

 

Lastly, one final point ---

     Whenever we find ourselves standing on the banks of a Jordan River, looking right at our next place of promise & favor & blessing, that season of prosperity & peace that has been so longed for and prayed about --- when we find ourselves standing there looking forward, may we not forget to take a glance back over our shoulders and remember the vase and wild "too big place" we're coming out of.

     Let us be careful not to forget our God in our promises land...and may we ask the Lord to bless us each with a heart that cannot forget Him.