God our Guide

“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.” (De 32:10 AV)

The context is the song which God gave to Moses which he was to teach to the children of Israel.  It was a reminder of what God did for them and what God is capable of doing when times are hard and the enemy seems overwhelming.  God promises that no matter what challenges they will have in the future, He is more than able to meet and defeat those who would harm the apple of His eye.  One of the manners in which the Holy Spirit gives us emotional and spiritual victory is to remind us of where we were when the LORD came down.  The verse above speaks of Israel in bondage to Egypt.  The verse speaks of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness as a means for the people of God to learn some lessons they would in no other way, learn.  When we are struggling in the present, it is always good to look back and see how far the LORD has brought us.

I remember one of the first times I climbed the mountain behind my in-laws house.  My Father-in-law was teaching me how to still hunt.  Directly behind his house is perhaps one of the steepest of all places to ascend.  He could walk up those hills without breaking a sweat.  Me?  Heart attack city.  The further up we climbed, it seemed the harder it became.  The thing is, the higher we went, the less steep it was.  I also remember getting near the top.  I couldn’t go any further.  But then I looked behind me and across the valley.  Realizing that I had far more trouble behind me than ahead, we pressed on to the top.  Sitting down on a log and enjoying some hot coffee from a thermos never tasted so good.

The point is this.  Sometimes we can have our eyesight on the trouble right in front of us that we forget just how miraculous our journey has been.  We forget how fruitless and pointless of a life we had before Christ saved us.  My life almost ended in suicide.  I had nothing to live for when Jesus came and changed all that.  As I get older, the LORD has given more patience.  The hill doesn’t seem nearly as steep as it once did.  The apex is near.  The race is two-thirds run.  I may not be able to sprint, but I can trudge on because the God who brought me thus far will carry me over the finish line.  That dry and thirsty land is in the distant past.  God did a work for me.  A work that still boggles the mind.  He has brought me through a great divide.  Over treacherous waters He has carried me.  Always faithful.  Never derelict in His duties!  God will honor His word.  There is still a mighty climb to ascend.  But He is there!  More so then ever before.