Exodus: Stop Walking in Circlesنموونە

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path."Proverbs 3:5-6

Have you ever had things go from bad to worse? Maybe it was a day that started out rough and just got progressively worse throughout or a project that happened to fail right when you thought you had nailed it. Maybe it was a relationship or a job that started great and ended poorly - hello who hasn’t been there? Or maybe like me, you’ve had seasons and experiences of being horribly hurt by the big C church and you wonder what the heck God has planned through this.

The truth is, God’s ways are not a straight path to Easy Street. We often cannot see the big picture. We only see our own desires and our own pain. His ways are right and true, and just, but they can be difficult. In fact, every time I have stepped out to follow a strong call of the Lord, things got harder. How’s that for encouragement?!

But you know what, God sees the big picture - the end of the movie, long before we do.

I stepped out in faith and sold my business to go into non-profit work. On the day of signing the paperwork, the buyer pulled out. In my immaturity, I got mad at God. Months later a new buyer, a more suited buyer, a more friendly and kind buyer followed through and it worked out better.

Think about Pharaoh and the story of the plagues. Each time Moses visited to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, the situation got worse. Frogs, lice, flies, the list goes on! It seems like God just tried to randomly think up the worst, most horrible way to punish the Egyptian people and their leader, but actually, each plague had a very specific purpose. We talk about this more in the book, but every single plague specifically represented the hieroglyphic of an Egyptian god. Think about it - God methodically and ruthlessly undermined the authority and respect for every single god in the pantheon that was being worshiped in Egypt. Each plague was a demonstration of God having the ultimate strength and a desecration of the religious structure of Egypt. These demonstrations provided clarity to all who witnessed them: The Israelites, the Egyptians, and Pharaoh himself. That God was ultimately in control.

Let’s stop for a moment and consider how all of this was impacting the Hebrews. The religious system of the Egyptians had become the underlying culture of the day for them. Over generations, they had adopted customs outside of their holy inheritance. They had lost sight of their ancestral promises and had become alienated from the God of their fathers. And even in the desert, as the Israelites were wandering, they encountered many moments when things got worse - often because of their own inability to see the big picture! (Who can relate?)

But, just like the Israelites, God always has a plan to bring us back to himself. And in this, we can take courage. We serve a creator of the universe who has our best interests at heart. He knows what’s best for us and he has the power to make it happen. We know God will fight for us in His time and for His glory and that all things work together for the good. If we trust him to see the big picture, it helps us to walk forward in our everyday lives even when it gets a bit bumpy.

Prayer:
Lord, guide us and strengthen us for the journey. Be near to us, even in our wandering. Help us to hear you clearly, and to understand in the depths of our souls that you have good things planned for us. And on the days when things go from bad to worse, help us to lean into you and trust you even more. You are a good, good God - and we’re so grateful.