DAY 200- BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE WILDERNESS

Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you.

Deuteronomy 9: 1


Reading: Deuteronomy 9

After an incredible journey of 40 years, a lifetime for most of the people, they have once again arrived at the border to the promised land. This time they are ready to go in and possess their inheritance. 

The Wilderness had prepared them. 

Moses doesn’t beat about the bush. He tells them that the nations they are going in to dispossess are greater and stronger than the Israelites. But now we don’t hear murmurs, we don’t hear grumbling, we don’t see sexual immorality or idolatry. 

The Wilderness has prepared them. 

Their faith was no longer in their own strength or ability. Their despair was no longer in their weakness or in the size of their enemies. They were no longer looking back to what they had in Egypt. They had been able to shake that all off. 

The Wilderness had prepared them to move forward, into everything that God had for them. 

The Wilderness is not pretty. You really must read through the whole book of Deuteronomy as Moses presents the history of their victories and failures, their obedience and their rebellion, their up’s and their down’s, their surges and their delays. The Wilderness is not pretty. But it is necessary. 

Don’t despise the Wilderness. But do learn from the Israelites. The journey can be shortened and made less painful if you set your mind towards faith, trust and obedience. 

Prayer

Thank You for the Wilderness Lord.

For the family

Watch 

this brilliant retelling of the exodus story