Sometimes
we can have a wilderness season on an annual basis. You know, that season where
you are just walking around looking for a drink of water and a minute to catch
your breath. I think the Lenten season can often be that way for my family. It
is in the middle of the school year, so Mindy can get worn down from teaching and
taking care of our kids. My kids can be restless wondering how much longer
until summer break. I am in the middle of Lent and feeling the pressure of two
sermons a week and thinking about how to make Holy Week great. We are just
trying to make it through. Sometimes complaining is easier than embracing the
reality of what we are going through.
Lately
I find more and more people who begin their discussion of Scripture by
criticizing the character(s) in the story. By no means do I think the people in
these stories are sinless, but I think our first reaction is to judge them too
quickly. If God wrote down my story in book to be used as an example, and
someone read those stories over and over again, I would not like it. I am
flawed, giving the readers plenty of mistakes to pick at with a fine-tooth comb.
Are we forgetting that the life stories of
people in the Bible are written to help us as we walk through similar
situations?
Learning
from their examples, and recognizing that the wilderness is something we can face,
is a blessing.
A
few weeks ago we talked about how Jesus addressed the downfalls of the
Israelites when he faced the devil and his temptations in the wilderness. This
weekend we will break from following the Gospel to look at the Israelites in
the wilderness and their grumbling during this tough season. Their hard lessons
are a blessing to us. As we grow in our faith, reflecting on the wilderness seasons
in our own lives, we see time and time again how Jesus is right there in the
midst of it with us.
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