One of the reasons I love my iphone is because all I have to do is press a button and tell Siri where I want to go. Somehow she always gets me to my destination. It's a funny thing though, when you think about it. I am putting a lot of faith into someone (or some thing) that I have never really met. Please open your Bible and read Deuteronomy 30 or just click here.
Something else intrigued me while studying this chapter. It was the "land." We read a lot about this destination. A place where they are going, a territory to inhabit, a location to take possession of. What is this promised land that they have heard so much about? The Israelites were literally going to Canaan. Canaan was the land west of the Jordan that God was going to hand over to the Israelites. It was full of people who did not walk with God and who had actually been left out from receiving the blessing which occurred when Noah's son, Ham, looked at his father when He was drunk and naked. Ham's son, Canaan and his future generations were not blessed by Noah, but instead were cursed into a perpetual state of slavery. It's so interesting to me that God took the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and blessed them by delivering them into a new land belonging to a cursed nation.
I believe God calls us each to go to our promised land. What will this particular promised land from the Lord be like for me? It will feel so free finally arriving there after a lot of hard work and determination. It will look beautiful to me because I have spent so much time in an ugly prison I created for myself, in bondage to my sinful, addictive habits. My promised land will make me feel more confident because I will know I am capable of doing all things through Christ, who gives me strength. I will feel a sense of belonging, knowing that it was God's destiny to bring me there all along. I will probably feel some remorse, wondering why I didn't make the necessary changes earlier. I will then feel contentment knowing that God's timing is perfect and that so many things in my life may have been altered if I arrived one day sooner. I will feel a sense of gratitude to God and all of the people in my life who never gave up on me, who never stopped encouraging me but who also accepted me the way I was for so many years. I will feel a sense of pride knowing that I am worthy but will hopefully follow that up quickly with humility, realizing that I was never able to get there on my own so it's really not I who deserves any praise. I will feel amazed that I finally got there because I spent my whole life never believing that I could.
What might your promised land look like for you? What will it be like to finally experience reaching that destination? Where is it that you are praying the Lord is going to take you? Today, go on your own little mental journey and imagine the best - that is what God wants to give you.
Father, I thank you for the journey we are on together. I have felt to bumps in the road along the way and I know there will be more trials ahead, but I will not waver. I desire to see this promised land that you are giving me. I will be patient. I will trust. I will persevere. I yield this trip to you. Amen.
Now Choose Life.
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