Pondering The Wilderness

Nehemiah 9 recounts God's goodness to the Israelites; God provided the Law, gave the Israelites food from Heaven, water from the rock, and prepared a land for them they did not have to settle. Nehemiah 9:16-18 then says, “But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands. They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies." If you're going to traverse the wilderness, you certainly want the God of Israel going with you. And while slogging through the sand may not be pleasant, you can be sure that He will provide everything you need. As I look back at some of my own trips through the wilderness, I wince as I remember the grumbling and the longing for the land of slavery; if not for his kindness and his patience, I might have been one whose body was left in the wilderness. God is so kind.