Tuesday, November 15, 2011

One of the Children

"Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? Didn't we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt...It's better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!"
Exodus 14:11-12

After 450 years of waiting - of fervent, unceasing prayers for deliverance from the cruel bondage in Egypt  - they joyously marched their way to freedom. Of all the answers to prayer, surely this was the greatest they had known. And yet, just days into their journey to the Promised Land the complaining began.

In recent days, I humbly admit, I have stood in their number. Whining and complaining and wishing I could just "go back to Egypt." Yesterday was a particularly trying day, and I was in top form. It was all I could do to pick up my Bible and read where I had left off days ago.

Seated in my little flowered armchair, I was transported to that moment in time when the Children of Israel started what seemed like a perpetual whining about their circumstances. God has a way of getting to the heart of a matter.

We have just come through a season of remarkable blessing - of long awaited answers to prayer that were beyond anything we could have imagined. It was all joy.

It didn't take long, however, for unanticipated problems to surface - and for anxiety to crowd out joy. My focus shifted from Him to the circumstances, and I whined and complained.

He "spoke" to me as I sat surrounded by my worries and fears and reminded me that I had much to be thankful for. There was never a moment when the Children of Israel were separated from His love and protection. They simply had a hard time remembering who He was when what seemed like insurmountable problems stood in their way.

When I walk through days like these, I have a tendency to become immobile. Everything is just too much effort. I make foolish decisions based on my feelings. Yesterday I decided I would shut down the blog...I didn't have anything worthwhile to share.....and if I did, I wouldn't write it well anyway....and on and on.

Today I read...
"After the victory, the Lord instructed Moses,'Write this down on a scroll as a permanent reminder..."
Exodus 17:14

Clearly the Father reminded me of the reason this all began in the first place. I wanted a place to write for Him; a place to pile the stones of remembrance as an altar to His faithfulness.

And so I write.

Blessings,
Linda