Wilderness Journey

Two Trumpets

Two Trumpets

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i have always been partial to the trumpet. My grandfather gave me my first trumpet when i was nine years old. He got it used, and it had seen better days. The bell was bent and the brass finish was pitted, but there wasn’t anything more beautiful to me. i can remember, however, the dreadful sounds it initially made, due in no part to the instrument itself, when i first put it up to my lips.

Gratefully, perhaps out of self-preservation, my parents soon arranged for me to receive lessons from Mrs. Finkbinder. i thoroughly enjoyed those weekly lessons. i envisioned myself becoming a trumpet virtuoso like my instructor. But sadly, i must confess, during those early years, i was less enthusiastic about my daily practice times between lessons. So, though my knowledge of the basics soon improved, my playing was less melodious and more mechanical.

One day in the wilderness, the Lord said to Moses, “Make two trumpets of beaten silver.”

A “Shur” Way

A “Shur” Way

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My wife and i are currently reading through the Bible in a year together with a group of friends in our faith community. We started midway through September and are now in the Book of Deuteronomy. Since we have spent the last several weeks reading about and discussing the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their journey through the wilderness, we decided to all get together and watch the movie The Prince of Egypt.

You may recall the movie was produced by Dream Works back in the late 90’s and is an animated portrayal of the first fourteen chapters of the Book of Exodus—following the life of Moses from his birth to his God-appointed task of leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The movie concludes right after the dramatic crossing of the Israelites through the parted Red Sea, as they flee the approaching Egyptian army. Though fictional license is used in the telling of the story, the scene when the people make their journey across the dry sea bed in the path God has provided for their escape inspires thoughts of what the actual experience must have been like for them.

No Matter Where We Are In Our Journey

No Matter Where We Are In Our Journey

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It really doesn’t matter where we are in the journey – at the beginning, the midpoint or the end. God uses it all! As a matter of fact, He assures us that what He begins, He completes – and He ultimately works through all things for our good and His glory – even when we can’t see it, or fathom how that could be the case.

The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. As a matter of fact, it had been 430 years to the day. If you recall, God led them into Egypt. He sent Joseph, son of Jacob, ahead to prepare for their arrival by using for good that which his brothers had intended for evil. Now, 430 years later, the Lord was leading His people to embark on a journey to the land that He had promised their patriarch Abraham; a journey that would lead through the wilderness.

For centuries they had cried out to God for deliverance.

The Lessons of the Detour

The Lessons of the Detour

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The journey of our lives often resembles a car ride on an interstate highway. Sometimes we are able to fly along with very little interruption from traffic. But most often, we are surrounded by crowded lanes of traffic that slow our progress. The congestion too frequently leads to accidents and, on occasion, to unexpected detours.

We never planned to encounter the accidents or the detours, but the reality is that they are a part of traveling along the interstate. The same is true of our lives. This week let’s look at the detours we come upon along the way, and heed some of the lessons the Israelites learned through the detours they encountered during their journey.

Their forty-year journey was almost at its end….

A Hidden Journey

A Hidden Journey

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Jesus will often take us on a wilderness journey with Him in order to prepare us and equip us for the task that He is placing before us. There are things that He can only teach us when we are one-on-One with Him in the deserts, or the floods, or the difficulties of a wilderness journey. He alone determines how long the journey will last and where it will lead. Though He is using the time in the wilderness to prepare us for what He has in store after the wilderness, He also has work for us right there in the midst of the wilderness! And through the preparation and the work, He is teaching us truths we can only learn directly from Him.

Sometimes those wilderness journeys are a very private and personal affair. It’s us and the Lord – and very few others, if any, know about it. It’s a “hidden” journey – and i personally believe that it is in that type of journey that God does His deepest work in our lives. It is an intimate journey that God uses to remove the dross from our lives and refine us to be vessels that are prepared and useful to Him….

No Turning Back

No Turning Back

Regardless of our age, many of us have found ourselves, at some point, harkening back to the “good ole days.” Those days may not even have been that long ago. Most of us find ourselves harkening back to the days before COVID.

Whatever those days are for you, you probably remember them fondly. Our memories tend to wash away most, if not all, of the challenges, complications and difficulties those days actually contained. In truth, as we look back, we recall that time as more idyllic, less complicated and more fulfilling than it really was. And – if during our stroll down memory lane – we happen to recall any of our sinful behavior during those days, we tend to gloss over the sin, and instead, long for the temporary pleasure it provided.

That impulse to harken back to yesterday is often triggered by the overwhelming challenges of our current reality….

Here Again

Here Again

Often as we journey through the wilderness of our lives, we think we’re all by ourselves. We begin to think that there is no one else walking through a wilderness like ours, and no one else who understands what we are going through. We allow ourselves to become isolated and alone … and from there we fall headlong into despair.

During the years the Israelites were walking through their wilderness, a census was taken that indicated there were over 600,000 men.(1) It represented men who were able to go to war, aged twenty years and older. Estimating the number of women and children, as well as the tribe of the Levites that were not included in this count, the total number of Israelites easily approached or exceeded two million people, which equals or exceeds the population of ninety-four countries in our world today. This truly was the nation of Israel. This nation was prepared to mobilize an army in excess of 600,000 men if the need arose; that number would only be exceeded by the armies of seven nations in our world today. Are you getting the picture that this was not a small group of people?

And yet, they too, felt alone and isolated!

The Journey's End

The Journey's End

Two men wandered through the wilderness with the Israelite children for forty years; one led them through the wilderness, the other would lead them into the Promised Land. Both had an assignment from God. One was to stop here(1), the other was to lead the people the rest of the way.

I must confess that on the surface this is one of the most perplexing incidents in Scripture for me. God’s hand was conspicuous on the life of Moses from his birth. God rescued him from the hand of Pharaoh as a little baby in a basket in the bulrushes. God prepared him for his assignment in the walled palace during his first forty years, and then took him to the wilderness pasture to continue his preparation for the next forty years.

Then God gave him one of the toughest assignments He has ever given any man – to shepherd His people out of Egypt and to shepherd Egypt out of His people….

A Journey To The Unknown

A Journey To The Unknown

As i write this, there is a brave young woman traveling halfway around the globe to a place she has never been before. She bid farewell to her family and friends, and to the only home she has ever known, in order to build a new home in a foreign place. It’s not a short term trip. It’s not for just a few years. It’s for the rest of her life… as Jesus tarries. She is making the journey because she knows that God would have her do so. i confess that i admire her courage and her faith. She truly has embarked on a Genesis 12 journey – a journey to an unknown place.

i saw a picture this morning that was taken of her with her family just before she boarded the plane to begin her journey. Their beautiful faces told a story of love, excitement, hope, joy… and sadness. There’s that joy over doing what you know God has called you to do…and excitement over where the journey will lead… but there is also sadness as you say farewell to those who are near and dear. That’s as true for the loved ones who remain at home as it is for the one who is making the journey….