UNCOMMEN: DoubtExemplo

A World of Doubt

Numbers 14: 26 - 30

26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh and Joshua, the son of Nun.

I don’t know about you, but my prayer for patience goes a little something like this, “Dear Father, please give me patience and give it to me now!”. As some of you know, my family and I were Katrina evacuees and went through about two years of our wilderness. I can sympathize with the Israelites as there were days, weeks and months that I didn’t have a clear direction where God was leading my family and me. 

I felt like we packed our minivan in the same haste as the Israelites did leaving Egypt and realized we left most of our life behind. From Red Cross shelters, living with some friends and a new job, the days were filled with nothing but changes and challenges. So I’m sure we had a fair share of grumbling going on, but we kept seeking God’s direction and His wisdom.

While that hindsight is 20/20 now, it was far less visible back than. So when I read about the Israelites struggling with doubt and contentment, I can identify completely.  

It wasn’t 40 years; there were days that it felt like it was every bit of that and more. That two year period led to some life-changing situations that couldn’t have happened any other way. This transition led to Studio490 and a family business that would go on to be a world-wide ministry. 

Lesson: 

Truly it was the ONLY thing that we could hold on to that wasn’t changing. Our emotions may have been all over the place, but God was right where He has always been in our lives…right by our side.

Uncommen Challenge: 

Are you going through something that makes you doubt God is active in your life? Don’t trust your feelings as they are ever changing. Trust God is right there with you and is working all things for His Glory, and you are along for the ride.