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You Must Go Through The Wilderness To Get To Canaan |
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The word Exodus means "going out." So this book records the redemption of Israel out of Egyptian bondage and the whole process they went through to get to the wonderful land that God had promised to give them. Hundreds of years before, God had come to Abraham and told him that he was standing on the very land that would be given to his millions of descendants, and that there would be so many that Abraham would never be able to count them all. God told all this great news to a man who at the time didn't even have any children who could be his heirs and carry on his birth line after he died. God had great plans to make His own great nation in the midst of all the heathen nations. He wanted to bless them so much that the godless nations around them would take notice of how everything they touched 'turned to gold.' To accomplish the great things He had in mind, He chose a man named Moses and his brother Aaron to lead His people to the land that He had promised Abraham so many years ago. The Book of Exodus covers everything that happened to the Israelites during their journey through the wilderness. God produced miracle after miracle right in front of their eyes so that they could see firsthand how he would take care of them. In fact, everything that happened from Abraham forward involved many supernatural acts from God for everything to come together. God wanted to form this new nation on His terms; so, therefore, it would be like nothing that man had seen up until this time. This nation would be completely different from those around it because it would not be run by human hands, but by an Invisible God that would care for every need of His Chosen People. God intended to give them untold blessings, with only one thing in return from them: that they would love Him with all their hearts, souls, and minds, and would never make any earthly thing more important than Him in their lives. For this teaching, we will start from the point of the Israelites leaving Egypt and starting on their journey into the wilderness. Israel was now a newly formed nation, but God knew that they had been under the rule of Egypt so long that they had to have time to learn how to be a Godly nation. For over 400 years they had been in an almost totally heathen land which worshipped many gods instead of the One True God. God knew that they were not ready to actually possess the Promised Land that He was to give to them. First, they had to learn to trust Him with every aspect of their lives. He wanted them to trust Him so much that whatever circumstances and obstacles surrounded them, they would know that He would do whatever it took to take care of it for them. The Book of Leviticus is filled with all the laws and ordinances that He gave them. God totally changed everything that they had been doing in Egypt. He gave them new laws for being sanitary, sacrifices that they were to make, etc. But he gave them the exact instructions through Moses so that they could carry out everything to the letter. There was no stone that He left unturned. They knew exactly everything that they were to do, and they also knew that they would be immensely blessed if they did these things. On their journey, God seemed to take them further and further into the wilderness. It was a time of testing for them to see how long it would be before they saw that He would always meet every need that they had. He supplied 'manna' for them for 40 years while they were in the wilderness, and also made their clothes and shoes last for the same amount of time. Everything about their trip was supernatural, because they had to totally depend on God or they would have starved. It is estimated that there were between 2 and 3 million of them, plus their livestock that had to be fed. God even sent them meat at times, also, so he had to provide a huge amount of food for them just to last one single day. If the Israelites had learned to truly depend on God, though, they probably would have spent less than two years wandering around the wilderness. Because they just wouldn't believe what He said, they had to wait for a whole generation of people to die so that the new generation could possess it. That took 38 years. God still works the same today as He did in the day of the Israelites. His way of doing things is much different from the way that we would do them. God calls us to do something, and then he starts preparing us to do it. We then start to go through a wilderness of our own for awhile, because God is trying to get everything out of us that will hinder Him from using us in any way. We seem to look at this as a terrible thing, but God looks at it as a wonderful thing. He is finally getting us to the point that He can start to use us however he needs to. The trip through the wilderness doesn't have to be terribly long, though, like that of the Israelites. If you just decide in your heart that you want God to work in your life and ask Him to remove everything that doesn't need to be there, He will happily do that. For those of us that do receive 'God's Best,' we will have to wait for His timing and His plan to come to pass. It might seem like a while in our eyes, but once we get 'The Best' we realize that we never want to settle for anything less. That is where God's blessings are the most wonderful. In fact, it is a wonderful feeling to know that wherever you are at the moment is in the perfect center of God's Will for your life. That is where real peace comes from. Please remember that if you are going through the wilderness right now, it might seem that God has left you because you can't feel Him. That is not true, because he said that He would 'never leave you nor forsake you' if you are one of His Children. God is just testing you for a time to remove the dross in your life. If you refuse to give up, you are right on the brink of receiving something great from Him. Remember, when the dross is burned off in the refining fire, all that is left is the pure gold. Then you are at the point that God can start using you in ways that you could never have imagined. Once God can really start to flow through you and use you like He wants, you will never want to go back to the way you were. Many people think that following God is very boring and mundane, but the reality is that there is nothing in this world that can compare at all to the wonderful blessings that you will receive when you put God First in your life. Try it and put God to the test. You will find a more wonderful life than you could ever dream. This text has been written and authored by Cathy Deaton and is her own work. Please ask for permission to use other than personal use.
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