This week of Passover, one word resonates with me more than usual.  That word is “provision”.  You see, usually during Passover we Focus on the word “freedom”.  We as Jews have freedom from slavery in  Egypt.  We as Christians and Messianic Jews have freedom from sin and death through our Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).  But this year, God has really shown me that provision is the word I need to focus on.

God set His people free from the bonds of Egypt.  He led them out of slavery and into the Promised Land.  But that did not come without trials and a very long road trip (much longer than necessary) with much complaining.  However, through the forty years of wandering, He provided the needs of the children of Israel.  Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.  Who knows walking around the desert for forty years will cause some serious foot problems??  Not for them!

“Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.” Deuteronomy 8:4 (KJV)

I am in a phase in life where I feel I am in the wilderness.  I feel as though I am being led to a place I am unfamiliar with, but God is leading the way before me.  I feel as though I have to rely on Him more now than ever before in my life because, like the children of Israel, I am approaching the unknown.  I have faith that where I am going is better than where I have been.  But the unknown oftentimes comes with fear.  The unknown often comes with doubt.  And the unknown comes with the need to lean on God and trust Him to provide for you every step of the way.

The unknown comes with the need to lean on God and trust Him #faith
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We need to be sure that when we are going through the wilderness, we are not keeping ourselves there by complaining or taking for granted God’s provision.  We get so comfortable in our lives.  We make an idol out of Comfort.

We get so comfortable in our lives. We make an idol out of comfort. #faith
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I went away this weekend with my family and we stayed at a hotel for one night.  It was absolutely one of the worst hotels I had ever stayed at.  The floor had not been vacuumed and the chair in the room had stains on it that I don’t even want to speculate about.  I insisted we all keep shoes on at all times except in bed.  The wifi was basically non-existent and I couldn’t go online and blog or do any work.  I was miserable.  I longed to go home when I should have been enjoying the time away.  I had made an idol out of comfort.

I had lost focus of the time away with my family.  I had lost focus of the opportunity to explore a new city.  I was focused on wifi signals and dirty floors.  The ridiculousness of that hits me now to my very core as I consider the many people in this world who would love to have these problems.  Comfort became an idol.

And in many ways, comfort, or at least familiarity, became an idol for the Hebrews in Sinai.  They may not have had the comforts we often think of when we think of the word.  They were slaves!  But they had mental comfort in their routine.  They had comfort in the provisions the Egyptians afforded them and complained about the provisions God afforded them.  They longed to be back in their bonds because they came with three squares a day and a place to sleep, despite their hardship.  It was familiar.  And familiarity is comfort even when not physically so. (See my post on Freedom From Egypt here)

God Himself gave them food and they complained.  He provided water and they complained.  He went ahead of them day and night and God Himself led them as a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night…and they complained. And for that, they wandered.  They wandered for YEARS longer than they needed to.  They had a fast track to the Promised Land and they missed it because they couldn’t get out of their own way!  They missed it because instead of focusing on the promise, they focused on the process.

They missed it because instead of focusing on the promise, they focused on the process.
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As I go through this time of wilderness walking, God is calling me to focus on His provision.  He is calling me, and you, to focus on the promise and not the process.  He is calling US to focus our eyes on Him and not on the situation.  He is telling me we spend too much time dwelling at the mountain and not enough time moving it!

He is telling me we spend too much time dwelling at the mountain instead of moving it! #faith
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“…for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
Matthew 17:20 (KJV)

Provision!  God provides all our needs!  He may not always provide our wants but He provides our needs! Comfort as an idol does not come from need, it comes from want.  It comes from taking things in life for granted.  It comes from taking GOD for granted.  Our ministries become comfortable, our marriages become comfortable, our jobs become comfortable, our complacency becomes comfortable.  We want God to DO for us as long as He doesn’t shake up our comfort zone!

We have a promise!  Jesus died on a cross to afford us eternal life.  But God never told us the way there would be comfortable.  He never promised us a life of ease.  He never promised us that we would not be uprooted, shaken, tested, refined.  He simply promises provision.

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (KJV)

So as I go through this wilderness season, I will focus my eyes on the Lord each and every step of the way. It is my prayer that we will keep our eyes on that cloud and that pillar of fire as He leads us to where we need to go.  And that we will focus on His promises, without focusing on the process.

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