Life with God is a rollercoaster. Sometimes we experience feelings of closeness, clarity in direction, or a sense of God’s provision and purpose in our lives. At other times it can feel like chaos or silence—the dark night of the soul. A wilderness.
Gratitude in this wilderness season is a fruitful practice that helps us remember who God is even in the midst of uncertainty. It can also help us see the new life springing up and the new ways God may be shaping us.
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses repeatedly encourages the Israelites to remember what God did for them when he delivered them from Egypt and led them through the wilderness. Tell your children and your children’s children, he says.
Remember. Tell your children.
Because sometimes you will forget it. And sometimes you won’t feel like worshiping and thanking God.
This is true when things are going well and we forget who has been providing for us all along. But it is perhaps especially true when we suffer or feel far from God. We may not really believe that God is on our side, that God is listening, or that God will do what he has promised.
Mere months after God had rescued the Israelites from the land of Egypt, after God had provided manna and water from a rock, after God said, “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Ex. 19:4), and after they saw God descend on Mt. Sinai in a dense cloud, the people got impatient waiting for Moses to return. They said to Aaron, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us.” (Ex. 32:1) And after they had completed the golden calf they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Ex. 32:5)
We can tell this story to shame the Israelites as if we would have done no different, or we can think about how difficult it must have been for them and how easy it is for us to forget who God is and what God has done for us. How easy it is for us to create idols that we can control amidst chaos, fear and uncertainty instead of relying on the only one who can provide.
Read the rest of this post on the Center for Pastor Theologians blog.
Emily Beth Hill 