August 12, 2006 - Thinking of Egypt
The sun shines every day here, without clouds to get in the way! It is over half way through the year now, and we haven't had any rain. And we aren't likely to get any either. The bushes are brown, there is no grass. I now understand what the wilderness was like that the Israelites passed through. I understand a little bit, because I can't put myself into their shoes exactly. After all, they didn't have airconditioned Four Wheel Drives to wander over the modern highways on their way to the Promised Land! No wonder they got discouraged and wanted to go back to Egypt. In that dry and barren land, with rocks, sand and dirt, they began to think their life back in Egypt was much better than it really was.
Sometimes I think about "Egypt" and want to go back too. I miss my chickens, the grass that is so green it looks like sparkling Emeralds in the morning mist. I miss the cold winters, the sleet, the hail. I miss the two acres, sheep, and large veggie patch. I look out my window here and see nothing but sand, as far as the eye can see in one direction... and in the others, grey blocks of concrete that people call home.
But just when I begin to doubt if this is really the "Promised Land", God opens my eyes and helps me look beyond the barren land, the grey concrete and the sand storms. I see people whom God loves, whom He died for. I see faces behind the veils, searching, seeking... I see the sand dunes, rising up and down across the desert, with such beauty that words can never describe them. I see my children learning lessons that they could only have read about in books if we were still in "Egypt". I feel God holding my hand and telling me that He will give me the strength to walk through the wilderness to the place He has for me.
Are you like me? Do you long for what has been and now no longer is? Or do you long for something that you think is yet to come? When I am "there" (where ever "there" might be!), everything will be alright...
Take His hand, and walk with Him where you are. Whether you are in Egypt, the Promised Land or wandering in the wilderness, He is with you. His rod and His staff will comfort you. We will not always be in any of these three places, and our earthly "Promised Land" is nothing compared to the real Promised Land in which our Lord Jesus has prepared a place for us. What we do need to do is keep our eyes on Him and not on our circumstances.
