“Then Moses said to him, ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.'” Exodus 33:15
It’s hard to imagine what it might be like to live in the desert. Hot sun, tents, blowing sand — talk about the essence of being uncomfortable. And yet, the people of Israel trekked through these conditions on their way to the Promised Land. They were well prepared for this journey. Although, along the way, they lost sight of the Lord God. It’s a story with which we are very familiar, but tucked away within this epic journey was a relationship. And, to what end do we understand this relationship between Moses and the Lord? When he was an infant, Moses was perhaps the baby, “Most Likely Not To Live” — how many babies do you know that’s taken an unattended basket ride down the Nile River and lived to cry about it? But through it all — against all odds — Moses had truly become a man of God, one who heard His mighty voice, seen His glory and witnessed His Almighty hand. Moses was charged by God to lead . . . to lead the nation to the Promised Land, but without ever seeing it himself.
It was during this journey when God spoke to Moses and encouraged him to continue on the journey, but that He (God) would not be going with them. Instead God would send an angel ahead of them. Moses could not fathom what life would be like outside of fellowship with God. For him, this was no option! Moses chose the desert over reaching the Promised Land if it meant he must go without the Lord God. Mighty things came from this decision.
This morning has been a sad morning for me. Thinking of my own life in the desert I wonder how much I’m drinking from the well of others. His springs of Life in our daily desert satisfies because of our sole dependence in Him and Him alone. I get my thirstiest during moments when I sip life from a canteen instead of from His spring. When I look for hope … comfort … love … acceptance … my way. I look for these things in those that surround me and my circumstances and I crumble. It’s the wrong foundation on which to stand — it’s not Hope, Comfort, Love, Acceptance, nor is it His Way!
May I learn each day to rest in the Hope that He gives through Him, enjoy the Comfort in His loving arms of grace, adorn the Love with which He freely showers me, believe that He Accepts me just the way I am and most of all . . . may I learn to Trust in Him!
This morning, opposite the sunrise in the western sky — without rainclouds, I saw a rainbow. God wanted me to see that rainbow this morning! It was a reminder that His promises are True and Everlasting.
Rainbows are possible, even in the desert!
by: Mark Cruver