Well for all of us individually there can be times in life
when it feels like we're just wandering aimlessly.
There's some things that might come up in life
where you're not sure how things will turn out,
you're not sure where God is,
and you're not sure what next step you should take.
That happens for all of us individually.
But as we think about things right now,
it's almost as if we, collectively,
both as a nation and as a world,
are going through some times when we all feel like we are wandering.
What will the coronavirus do and
when will we get back to a new normal?
Nobody really knows.
It's like we're wandering through this.
How will we resolve the racial tensions?
When will things get back to an established level of peace?
It feels like we're just trying to wander our way through this
day by day by day.
So what I want to do in this series that we're starting this week is
I want to give a chance
for all of us just to pause
on what's going out there in the world
and to start to think about how we can learn.
Learn from God,
learn from our situation, even while we are wandering.
And to do that, I'm going to invite you to join with me
just to look at how another nation
learned while they were wandering.
As it turns out, the nation of Israel,
some 4,000 years ago
had to do a lot of wandering themselves.
Sometimes it included disease.
Sometimes it included violence.
But their wandering lasted 40 years
as they wandered a wilderness
on their way to a new land.
And as we look through their story this week,
what we're going to do
is find some purpose
and find some direction, even during this time.
What I want to do today is set things up
by showing you what happened
right away as these Israelites started to wander.
And maybe if you grew up in church,
you've heard this story before.
You know the back story.
Maybe if you're new to God, maybe if you didn't grow up in church,
this might be a little bit new.
But it's a longer story than I have time to tell.
So I'm just going to tell you the highlights,
that there was this nation, the Israelites,
and that life was not good for them
because they were in a land called Egypt.
Egypt was this land where they were made slaves.
They were being killed.
Conditions were getting worse and worse
and they cried out to God,
"God, please hear us.
Please deliver us."
So God sent a man named Moses.
And after a series of plagues,
finally the Israelites were released from Egypt,
and God set them free.
What we're about to look at is
the moment as they start to leave Egypt.
God is going to give them some comfort.
What you and I know is that sometimes
when we enter into a season of wandering,
we're left wondering where God is and what he's up to.
But I want you to look at what God did for the Israelites,
because what he did for them
is what he's about to do for me and you also.
This section is from Exodus, chapter 13, verse 21.
It says:
And get this:
That was an amazing blessing for them because
even as they entered their wandering
in the wilderness,
they were not left wondering where God was.
No matter where they went, God never left his place.
He was there with them,
a visible sign by day
and by night that he was with them.
And right now,
that sort of reminder is what
you and I need right now too.
Even though we feel out of place,
God has not left his place
in front of me,
in front of you.
And the way we see that most clearly demonstrated
is what God was willing to go through in order to be
with you and to be with me.
And for us, the proof is not 4,000 years ago
in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.
For us, the proof is 2,000 years ago.
God did not appear in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.
God became flesh and he dwelled among us.
He, himself, entered the wandering of our life
so that he could know what it's like
to be in a position that we're in.
He surrounded himself with sicknesses and diseases.
He, himself, witnessed and experienced violence and racism.
He entered into the wandering,
not just so that he could know what it's like,
but so that he could redeem us from it.
The one thing that
we ultimately cannot control,
the wandering that we could never escape from is the wandering of death.
But even there, because of what Jesus did,
to die for our sins and to come back to life,
he has taken away the wondering
from that wandering too.
There he is with us
even in that moment of death,
to deliver us from this world to be with him.
So as we get into the topic this week of
how to navigate through wandering
and what lessons we learn from the Israelites while they wandered,
I want you to do so knowing
that even while you're wandering,
you don't have to be wondering where God is.
Because of what Jesus did, he is right here with you.
And the things we're going to talk about this week are challenging.
They're going to be tough at times.
But with you,
there is hope and there is life.
Because God, himself, entered the wandering
to be with you.
Well, today we started a new talk
that goes through how we're going through
a season of wandering right now.
Is that how you feel right now?
Is life just full of uncertainties and
you're not sure where to go or where it's going to end?
I encourage you to stay with us this week
as we learn how to navigate through times
like this as we look back at the Israelites
in their time of wandering.
Please feel free to reach out, leave a comment
and invite someone else to join this series with you
as we learn together what it means to
follow God through a season like this.