Are You Having One of Those Days?

Have you ever had one of those days when you could feel the murmuring, complaining spirit rising up in you demanding an audience? Yesterday was one of those days, I just felt grumpy! While I was feeling grumpy and desiring to give that feeling an expression by grumbling a scripture passage kept coming to mind. It was the story of the children of Israel going through the wilderness.

God was leading them to the Promised Land through the wilderness. The wilderness wasn't comfortable and their response was to murmur and complain. In their heart they were rebelling against God's leadership. I kept thinking about this yesterday that sometimes when God leads me to a place of promise and deliverance it involves going on a path I don't want to go.

Wilderness have a way of exposing the heart. I didn't want to be grumpy yesterday I just was. I didn't want to rebel against the path God had chosen for me that day but I wasn't exactly sure how not to and then another scripture came to mind, "With my whole heart I cry out; answer me, O Lord! I will keep your statutes. I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies."(Psalms 119:145,146)

The wilderness exposes my vulnerability and my dependence on God. In the wilderness I am faced with a choice to rebel against the God who led me here or cry out to Him for help. In my struggle in the wilderness I experience the triune God. Selwyn Hughes spoke about the trinity as, "God above us, God among us, God within us. The Father in majesty, the Son in suffering, the Spirit in striving." In the wilderness my heart seeks for the Father, is grateful for the Son and totally dependent on the Spirit.

Father, thank you for Your word. Your word teaches me that faith comes by hearing Your word. When I read about how You led the children of Israel through the wilderness I see that even though they rebelled against You You provided for them. Their clothes didn't wear out and their feet didn't blister or swell. During times of testing let me cry out to You in the power of the Spirit so that I can see Your provision instead of just grumbling.