Jul 13

Written by:
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 7:06 PM 

   Driving home from Bible study one Wednesday last year allowed me some time alone to think and deal with the pending melt down I knew was coming. It was a time to think and feel a little. We were preparing for the imminent second deployment - 8-months ahead of schedule. I was tired and really wishing at that moment that someone else could go. I finally just broke down and cried - hard. It felt good. I needed it.

   Then words from Exodus began to flood my heart. We had been studying them for months at this time and each morning in Bible study I would join Moses and Israelites in their wanderings through the wilderness. I realized "the wilderness" for me was being redefined by studying those particular passages in scripture and by going through these deployments.

   It's amazing to me to think back on Moses and the course his life took. When he was a Prince in Egypt he had everything. He had power, prestige, an education (not something common then), he was even a General of the strongest Army in the world at that time! He turned his back on it all and went into exile for 40 years.

   He had to shepherd dumb animals for 40 years before he was prepared for the purpose God had for him.Then what did he do? How many times did he fail? How many times did he argue with the very presence of the Almighty Creator of the world? "I can't do it God!! Send someone else!! Not me!"

   He went through all of that, and then when the Israelites hit yet another major rift in their relationship with God (over the golden calf and before the construction of the first temple) Moses' response showed growth. God told Moses at that point to take the people and go! He did this for their protection because He was ready to wipe them off the face of the earth. God said that instead of going with them He would send an Angel to guide them and protect them.

   Moses refused to leave without God going before them. He knew that God was what set them apart, and without God there was nothing special about this Nation. Moses learned that the true wilderness was not defined by his physical surroundings. Moses learned that the true wilderness is going anywhere God would not be -- anywhere God would not lead. Moses was firmly planted and was not about to leave. 

   Moses loved God so much that he would have sat at the foot of the mountain, I believe, until his dying day waiting to be led. I pray that I too would love God in such a way! That I would give up what seems to be human gain to sit at the foot of His mountain because I fully realize that without Him I am nothing. I pray that I will not compromise and settle. The path of least resistance may be guided by a powerful Angel, but wherever God leads is exactly where I want to be! 

    Moses failed, time and time again, but he did love God and so desired to follow Him. Moses died in the physical wilderness as a consequence of his own sin, but he did not die in a spiritual wilderness. We also know that God, Himself, buried his faithful servant when Moses drew his final breath.

    I went through all of this to share the encouragement that God's Word gave to me. To our Blue Star families who are facing deployment right now, hang in there in the wilderness. Always remember that when we seek Him, we find Him. When we have a hard time hearing Him, we need to read His Word, pray, and fellowship with other believers.

    Even when our husbands, wives, sons and daughters are facing the ancient sands of Biblical lands and we tread that wilderness through our love for them, we do not live in a Spiritual wilderness as long as we trust in Christ and as long as we seek to love and glorify God.

   We may tread in a physical wilderness, but we are in the midst of God's will, and in the midst of a family of believers. Because of that we are as "at home" as we can be on this earth. One day, however, we will be in our rightful home and in His presence.