Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. Psalm 28:7
A Journey of Grace
Author Christine Caine said of the Children of Israel: “Going through was essential for them, but their trek through the wilderness was actually only an eleven-day journey. It didn’t have to take forty years, but in essence they chose that for themselves by fighting the process—grumbling, complaining, resisting the work God wanted to do in them.
We all have some version of the wilderness to go through… It’s how God prepares us to be well able to overcome the giants in our lives.”
If we fight the journey instead of enjoying it, or at least accepting it, we may miss the purpose and it may take a lot longer than it needs to. AND, who wants to prolong the wilderness moments of life? Or miss the mark altogether and have to do it again?
It is so easy to quickly fall into despair and so hard to be courageous while we wait on the Lord. The verse says “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” – that means in this lifetime, before I die, I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord. In that statement there is a glimmer of hope because any time I am in despair, I am tempted to feel like it will never end and life will never be the same again. But if I truly believe, I can persevere. Because I believe, I can hope and know that He may not solve things the way I want Him to, but I can trust Him. His goodness is coming. There is light ahead. It is only a season and change will eventually come.
In moments when I am tempted to despair, when things are spinning out of control or my heart is breaking, I have learned to find comfort in contentment because as long as I am fighting against my trials, there is never peace. When I accept and resolve myself to what is my reality, I can see that this is a passing moment but it is building towards a greater joy. He is in control and I can trust and wait and trust in Him.
