Coming Through The Desert

The Cowboys ended 13 years of wandering in the playoff desert this weekend.  It was a big win but it was a good win.  I'm surprised how they are playing right now and hope Uncle Jerry remembers they are 4-0 since posing for a picture with my son.  I knew he was a good luck charm but didn't realize it would work for the Cowboys too!  :)
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Have you ever planned a week-long trip to the desert?  How would you feel about a 2-week trip wandering around in the desert?  A month?  How about 40 years?


I used to be fascinated with the miracles God did while the Israelites were in the desert and I suppose I still am fascinated by them but what strikes me today is why God sent them there and why they had to stay so long.  I wonder what would have happened if they had trusted God and given their hearts to him immediately after leaving Egypt.  Would they have only spent a few years there or a few months or a few weeks?  I ask the same question of myself these days.  What if I had truly given God my heart and trusted him completely years ago?  Would I have had to wander in the desert so long?  The truth is I wandered for years and didn't even realize the problem.  I thought I was "being good" at the Christian life but looking back realize my heart wasn't fully given to God, my thoughts weren't fully given to God and my actions weren't fully given to God.


I'm not saying I have achieved any level of perfection today - far from it in fact - but today I realize what it is to really trust God for everything.  I have questioned and put my desires before God for years but today I simply want to trust in him for everything because I know he can part the sea in front of me.  We laugh at the Israelites saying "he parted the Red Sea and you still didn't trust him?" but I haven't been so different for much of my life.  Today, I want to be different.  I want to go against the grain of worldly wisdom.  I want to simply lay my life in the hands of God and let him mold it into what he desires for me.  I have found so much freedom and so much peace in simply letting go of what I desire and allowing myself to be led by him.


I've been in the desert but I know the land of milk and honey awaits me.


Grace and peace to you.