In Exodus, after crossing through the Red Sea, Moses and Miriam sang to the Lord and boasted of His faithfulness. In Exodus 15:13 they proclaimed, “In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.”
I understand that this “holy dwelling” or promised-land, is embodied in God’s own words: “I will be their God and they will be my people”. We do know that the Israelites had a long journey before they would enter the promised-land.
My twenties were an awful time for me: I had zero Christian fellowship and a family business that crumbled through dysfunction. The failed business spawned a lengthy legal battle that spanned decades, drained resources, caused wounds and put a spotlight on human failure and disappointment. The difficulties and stresses were very real and it seemed like there would be no end. As the years have passed, I now see ever more clearly what I couldn’t see then; the Lord was indeed leading me “to his holy dwelling”.
I suspect if I were to ask God why He made the Israelites wander for forty years He would say something like “...well, I couldn’t do it in 39 years…”. All kidding aside - and I do not mean to minimize or downplay anyone’s “desert crossings” or sufferings at all, but the Lord is Faithful and is with us and is active in bringing us into greater maturity and freedom even when we can’t see it. Sometimes it just takes time; even more time than we wish it would.
In Hebrews 13:5 we are told: “God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Add to that Philippians 1:6; “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Allow me to bring this all back to the initial verse in my writing: Exodus 15:13 “In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.” Brothers and Sisters, “Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” 1st Corinthians 3:16.
I will boast in the Lord’s unfailing faithfulness to bring all of us - using “all things” (as Romans 8 declares) - into greater measures of intimacy, maturity, freedom and fullness of life in Him: the Promised-Land. |
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