Waters to Ford, But First There's a Desert - Part Three

We call her Coco - she's three & she plays soccer.
AuntLisa cheers for her... very loudly.

I have a confession to make.  I love sports and I love cheering for sports... loudly, very loudly.  I'm the fan in the stands you don't want to sit in front of.  I'm the aunt in the bleachers whom everyone looks at through the corner of their eye.  And I don't care.  I believe there is a reasonable expectation of loud cheering at a sporting event.  If you want a quiet sporting experience, nod off to golf or tennis; but don't look at me like a science project gone awry just because I yell for my babies at the top of my voice.  I have the unique perspective from the stands that allows me to see how great they are, and they might not remember that in the heat of a game.  Kids need encouragement.  People in general need encouragement - especially those who are trudging around a wilderness experience.

Israel had a hard time in that awkward state of flux between the Red Sea and the Jordan River.  They complained a lot.  They revolted a few times.  They wished they were back in Egypt more than a few times.  They got disciplined.  They got hungry.  They got grouchy and they struggled to see a bigger picture - the portrait of a God Who though silent wasn't still and though unpredictable was not unknowable.

To be honest, thousands of years after the fact as I read the account of Israel in the wilderness, I have an innate desire to cheer them on and encourage them.  Forty years between leaving Egypt and entering the Promised Land - the mere thought of that is discouraging to me yet they lived it!  Seriously, don't you just want to holler for them even this long after the fact!?!  "You can do it!  Hang in there! It gets better!"  Cheers from the cheap seats, so to speak, since we have the luxury of viewing their experience through the lens of time and scripture, but in the moment it was intensive reprogramming of the heart of God's people.

So it remains.  Not every exodus is an immediate entrance into destiny.  Not every ending is yet a beginning.  Sometimes, there's a long arduous in-between where hearts are reprogrammed so we can fully embrace the challenges and prosperity of what's coming next.  But in the thick of it, we don't always see it - the self-portrait God is painting all around us.  God had drawn Israel out of Egypt to live in their midst, to be with His people.

Like Israel, our wildernesses are where God proves that even though He may be silent, He is not still.  He is at work regardless of how quiet and motionless the landscape may seem.  And though God is unpredictable, He is knowable.  For the first time in their history, He was living among them.  Even at that, they never knew when God would move or why or to where; but He wanted them to trust Him. For forty years He provided in unusual ways, did unpredictable things, and created a people for Himself that would trust Him, follow Him and love Him.

I hope it doesn't take me 40 years to figure that out.  I am looking for my Jordan - that unknown entrance to a promise that everything behind me will make sense.  In the meantime, He provides for me, leads in unpredictable ways and is reforming in me a will to trust, follow and love Him.  (Seems my will to do so had gotten a bit flabby around the middle and could use some cardio.)  He's reprogramming my heart for the challenge and prosperity of the next adventure together.

And I'm sure I'm not alone in this.  Surely, there are readers waiting for life to make sense again, waiting for the next adventure that reveals the path they're on to be a runway instead of a dead end.  Is that you?  I'm cheering for you!  I'm the loudmouth in the stands reminding you how strong you are, how faithful God is, how safe you are in trusting your future to Him.  You can do it!  Hang in there!  It gets better!