Lately for devotions I’ve been reading about the children of Israel and their wanderings in the desert. I love studying it because I find so many parallels between their lives and my life. As I was reading along in Patriarchs and Prophets yesterday, I came across an extremely powerful paragraph. The children of Israel have almost completed their 40 years of wandering. They are ready to go into Canaan. First they must overcome some obstacles. Here’s what she says: “The Hebrews now remembered how once before, when their forces had gone to battle, they had been routed, and thousands slain. But they had then gone in direct opposition to the command of God. They had gone out without Moses, God’s appointed leader, without the cloudy pillar, the symbol of the divine presence, and without the ark. But now Moses was with them, strengthening their hearts with words of hope and faith; the Son of God, enshrined in the cloudy pillar, led the way; and the sacred ark accompanied the host. This experience has a lesson for us.”
Here’s the amazing part.
“The mighty God of Israel is our God. In Him we may trust, and if we obey His requirements He will work for us in as signal a manner as He did for His ancient people. Everyone who seeks to follow the path of duty will at times be assailed by doubt and unbelief. The way will sometimes be so barred by obstacles, apparently insurmountable, as to dishearten those who will yield to discouragement; but God is saying to such, Go forward. Do your duty at any cost. The difficulties that seem so formidable, that fill your soul with dread, will vanish as you move forward in the path of obedience, humbly trusting God.”
How often I forget that He is our God--the God who turned the water into blood and parted the Red Sea. With God on our side, I have nothing to fear.
