Carried through the Wilderness

​Meditation
Deuteronomy 1:30,31—The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt. And you saw in the wilderness how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place.
 

What is your Egypt?  Can you think of a place and time in your life when you were bullied or harassed and life was miserable until God intervened and rescued you?   Sometimes Egypt becomes a prison of our own making. Remember how Joseph was used by God to save his entire family when a severe, seven-year famine ravaged the land?  After the famine ended, why didn’t Joseph and his family return to Canaan?  For whatever reason they became comfortable and it was easier to stay than it was to leave.  Slowly, the Israelites lost their freedoms in Egypt until God intervened through Moses and miraculously saved them from Pharaoh and his pitiless policies.  Bill Buck, my West Point classmate and friend, shares, “Egypt is the way we allow things to dictate our life whether it be money, possessions . . . or expectations people place upon us.” 

What is your wilderness?  Can you think of a prolonged period where you wondered how you would survive each day?  Kathleen reminded me of a period in the 90’s when the church I pastored did not have enough money to pay our salary. We lived on the donations of some very special friends—many of whom support our First Cause ministry to this day.  Kathleen was not sure where the quarters would come from to pay for our children to attend their AWANA club.  We had little money for anything yet, somehow, God always provided.  He preserved us and He made us stronger as we trusted Him.
  
In Deuteronomy chapter one, Moses reviewed for his countrymen how he came to select leaders for them.  He reminded them of their disobedience at Kadesh-barnea when out of fear they refused to move into Canaan.  He gave them a pep talk by reminding them of all God supernaturally did to rescue them from Egypt and to preserve them as they wandered through the wilderness for decades.  The point Moses was trying to make is important to us today.  Don’t live in counsel of your fears!  Remember God’s faithfulness to you and move forward in confidence.

If you are facing challenges ahead, don’t succumb to doubt. Think back on all the times God blessed you, provided for you, gave you strength when all you had was weakness, encouraged you, loved you and made you better.   Egypt represents adversity.  The wilderness represents survival.  God allows both to deepen our faith and to propel us forward.  

​In Australia, the Dalebura tribe of New South Wales, took turns carrying a woman who was born crippled until she died at the age of sixty-six.  This aboriginal tribe would not desert those who were sick.  If a tribe can exhibit that kind of devotion and love to their members imagine what God can and will do for us!  He carried us through the wilderness and He will carry us all the way home!  Something to think about . . . in reveration.  
 
©2016 Daniel York ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)