Wilderness Or Promise Land

How many times have you found yourself in this spot? A spot commonly referred to as, between a rock and a hard place? Here God had freed His children from Egypt using Moses as the messenger and deliverer. He brought them out of Egypt and into the path of the Red Sea with the Egyptian army hot on their heels. They had to go forward and the only way to go was the direction of the Red Sea. So God parted the sea and allowed His children to pass through it on dry ground, then immediately closed it back up swallowing the Egyptian Army. Here we learned of how God made the impossible possible and protected His children from certain death by the hands of the Egyptians.

What is your rock and hard place? No matter what it is, God has the answer. He did not have your soul bought and paid for just so you could die. He bought and paid for your soul so you may have eternal life. Now is the time to get focused on the promised land not on the past. No matter where you have been and no matter what you have done, He is waiting for you. You have to make the choice to follow Him and to allow Him to lead you to the promise land. He has a plan for each one of us, however, just like the Children of Israel, we seem to continue to wander in the wilderness.

In the wilderness God provided food, shelter and water for the Children of Israel. Why wouldn’t He provide for you today? I can tell you from experience, He has always provided for me. Because of the choices I made, I took 18 years of wandering before I came back to Him and started to realize His promises. You see He rescued the Children of Israel from Egypt in spite of the choices they made but allowed them to wander for forty years eating manna before they reached Canaan. I was lucky, I only wandered 18 years before coming to Canaan. Let me share with you how He provided for me, even though I was not willing to acknowledge His care for me.

In December of 1998, I was sitting in a jail cell, under lock down, classified a fugitive from justice. I heard that the bond was going to be $80,000 and I was going to go in front of a judge. I had no family in Memphis and no prospect of coming up with $8,000 to get a bail bondsman to post bond. I cried out to God, I prayed and I went in front of a judge. The judge lowered the bond to $25,000 and the $2,500 was provided for me. The money was my "manna". God provided the money for me to get bonded out of jail and I went about my merry little way. I was still in the wilderness but starting toward Canaan and getting a little closer.

Then in January of 1999 I received a phone call from Phoenix, Arizona and was informed my Dad had just died. I had no money and no way of getting back to Phoenix for the funeral. By the next morning, I received an advance on my paycheck and was on a plane. Again God provided "manna" and I just kept going on my own way. I was then provided the funds to return to Memphis and life started back up again. I was working and we had a home and were doing okay. Then in March I was again arrested. After 29 days in jail I was transported back to Phoenix on a Governor’s warrant. Again I prayed and the bond was lowered from $80,000 to $1,600 and again God provided the money (manna) through my Mother.

I kept getting in the spot of a rock and a hard place and God kept providing. I, however, resisted giving Him total control and He continued to allow me to wander in that wilderness. Finally, I came to the Red Sea and I either needed to cross or die. I cried out to God and surrendered my all. He parted the Red Sea and I passed reaching the other side a stronger person than I had been before. I finally started to see the edge of Canaan and life began to move forward. There have been so many times in my life that God provided and I did not even acknowledge this. I am sure you have been there.

I often tend to gravitate towards the stories in the Bible of ordinary men doing extraordinary things. I can relate because I am an ordinary man who, without the full power of the blood, would surely have been dead by now. Moses was an ordinary man, by all accounts, yet God chose him to go to Pharaoh and to lead the Israelites out of captivity. This was not an easy task by any means. Moses had to work on the Pharaoh and God continued to harden the heart of the ruler. Yet this ordinary man, through faith, continued to follow God’s commands and was granted victory.