What do we do when we feel we're exactly where we believe God wants us to be, and intense trials come? I don't know about you, but if I'm exactly where I feel God wants me to be – even where God led me – I certainly don't expect the type of trials that might shake my faith. Little trials, yeah. But not ones that threaten to turn my whole belief system upside down.
In my reading in Exodus recently, this came to mind when I came to chapter 17. Moses had just led Israel out of Egypt, the Red Sea parted, the people saw the Egyptians perish, God had gone ahead of them in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and he miraculously fed them. You'd think witnessing those type of miracles would inoculate anyone from doubting their God.
Not so with the Israelites. And perhaps not so with us either.
If you don't have a Bible handy, I'll summarize the events. In verse 1, it appears that God was leading the people of Israel to each encampment. They settled at this point at Rephidim – where God appears to have led them directly – and they came upon two significant trials: lack of water and enemy attack. For the purposes of this blog, I'm going to focus in on the enemy attack.
I can't imagine the surprise the Israelites experienced when they were attacked. Here they were, exactly where God wanted them to be. Yet they were attacked. It must be noted that Israel had never experienced war in their lifetimes. In fact, the whole reason God didn't immediately take them into the Promised Land after their exodus from Egypt was because God knew they would face war and wouldn't be able to handle it (Exodus 13:17).
So how did Moses their leader respond? He didn't panic. He didn't doubt God. He immediately took action and told Joshua to take an army of men and go fight. He assured Joshua that he would indeed be there with him watching from a hill with the “staff of God” in his hand. This staff was Moses's reminder to Joshua that the Lord would prevail. It was this staff that Moses used when God struck the plagues on the Egyptians. It was this staff that Moses lifted when God parted the Red Sea. It was with this staff that Moses had just struck a rock and provided water for the people at Rephidim. In effect, Moses was reminding Joshua of God's faithful acts so Joshua would continue in that faith during this uncharted territory of war. And Joshua (the leader-of-Israel in training, unbeknownst to himself) obeyed. And through God's power, he and his army were victorious.
So what can we take from this? First, we can be smack-dab in the center of God's will and still experience trials that we never dreamed of, never were prepared for, and never expected. Those trials can overwhelm us to the point that we have temporary spiritual amnesia and forget all that God has done for us. We should never believe our faith is unshakable. We must remain on our guard.
Second, when we come upon those trials, we must remember God's faithfulness. We must remember what God has done for us. When it seems like the hand of God is nowhere in sight, we must go back to those times where God's hand was clearly on our lives. When our emotions are uncontrollably spiraling, our mind has to recollect God's goodness. We must remember that without exception, God is good.
Finally, we must have faith in the master plan. The attack on Israel gave Joshua his first battle experience, experience he would draw upon when the larger battles – the ones he had to lead when Israel fought for their rightful occupation in the Promised land – ensued. This attack also reaffirmed the hand of God on Moses's life in the eyes of the people. Granted, like us, they would continue to struggle in their faith and would continue to doubt Moses, but this experience served to show Israel once again that they were God's people, and Moses was their leader.
Yes, God very well may lead us to a place where trials lie ahead. Even when we doubt whether we were in his will in the first place, even when we're too caught up in our pain to recollect his faithfulness, even when we can't see our next step much less the master plan, God may just have something bigger in mind than we can fathom.
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