Earlier in the pandemic I was writing a blog everyday for the first month. The name for the blog was “A Trip For A Lifetime”. On one of the days the topic was “when are we going to get there?” I know if you have ever taken a trip with kids you’re not far into the trip before someone is going to ask “ When are we going to get there?” I would assure them we are going to get there and they just needed to be patient. I think our Heavenly Father would tell us the same two things now.
I am now starting to ask this same question. I am becoming so frustrated by being pulled around by the fear of the world. My attitude about almost everything has become bad and negative. I don’t like the uncertainty or the lack of control. My life has become like a never ending story or like the movie Groundhog Day.
I have been reading in the bible about the exodus. I have become like the Israelites. I have been complaining, doubting, and even wondering if God knows what He’s doing. Moses told them they were going to take a trip leaving Egypt and arriving in the Promised Land. He never told them about the wilderness or how long it was going to take. Immediately they found themselves going the long way around. They were thirsty, hungry and physically worn out. The trip had become so uncertain and out of control. At every turn the Lord would deliver them or perform a miracle and yet they still complained, balked, and questioned God at every turn. (Sounds like me)
Reading the Bible there is one passage that stuck out to me. It comes from the 13th chapter 17th verse of Exodus. “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter.
For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.””Exodus 13:17 NIV.
This tells me the Lord was preparing them not only individually but collectively to not only conquer but process what was before them. I feel this is what is happening now. The Lord God is preparing us to do battle for the Kingdom in new ways. He is giving us more confidence, greater ability to hear Him, and teaching us to rely on him on a daily basis if we will just let Him.
There is no doubt that I have started to grow more impatient. I have started complaining more and am becoming more frustrated because I am being pulled around by the fear of the world. I have begun to question the purpose of this pandemic and constantly wondering what God is up to.
I finally did the right thing and went to God. I asked questions of Him and sought answers from Him instead of the world. I quit chasing the answers around in my own head. The best question I ask Him was what I could do to help him grow me up to prepare me for what is coming. He informed me that the enemy wants me to focus on the future or the past. He doesn’t want me to focus on the present. He wants me to ask questions about he future like “When is this pandemic going to end?” Or “What is life going to look like?” When it comes to the past it might be “Why cant it be like it use to be?” Or “ how did we get to this point?” You get the idea.
He told me to start focusing on today not yesterday or tomorrow. Focus on Him more. Learn how to let him provide strength, peace, and direction. That’s why he gave the Israelites manna that would only last for one day. He wanted them to rely on Him one day at a time.
I’m not sure why God hasn’t taken us through this trial in a more direct path or at a faster pace but I think it is the same reason he didn’t take the Israelites through the Philistine country. They weren’t and we are not prepared to do battle collectively like we will need to be in these days ahead. The enemy is up to new strategies and so is God. In short he’s growing us up.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,” James 1:2 NIV
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 NIV
Lord give me this day my daily bread, give me strength, and increase my trust in you
~Quinn Conley