#08182014

"When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, "Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt." But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle."

Earlier today, Hanna asked why God lets bad things happen to people, knowing that it'll hurt them. Concurrently (for years I guess), I've been juggling with the word "wilderness" a bit since Pastor Fred Mok spoke about it at our winter retreat.

God didn't have the people of Israel travel through the wilderness with the intent of testing the people's faith, like "hoho, instead of the shortest path, I'm going to lead them through the longest and hardest path just because life isn't supposed to be easy," like no. God knew that there was a harder path and He led them through this little bit of trouble to avoid a bigger trouble that would be more dangerous to the people and would hinder them more from His plan. And it's not even like He abandoned them. He was there with them every step of the way, as a Pillar of Cloud by day and Pillar of Fire by night, unmistakable.

But the faith and trust that they had, knowing that it was gonna be hard-- to the point of calling it a battle-- and preparing for it, knowing that He would lead them to grater places; not being too scared or too lazy; being uncomfortable for a little bit so that they could be rewarded beyond imagine for so much longer....