We just got back from our all-China retreat in CD this past weekend. We had a chance to see everyone that we met in HK last year again. It was great to reconnect and see the kids growing up a lot.
The speaker showed us the lives of the Israelites as they were wandering the wilderness from Numbers. He reminded us that as followers of JC, we are pilgrims on this earth, on a journey home. We don't live here. One of the marks of the wilderness is suffering. The Israelites weren't meant to live on manna and quail. Instead those provisions were supposed to nourish them and strengthen them for the time they were in and point them towards what was better in the promised land. If G gave them milk and honey in the wilderness it would have simply confused the Israelites into thinking they had already arrived to the promised land.
We are wandering the wilderness as well. We have blessings but those are only a shadow of the blessings we will receive when we get to heaven. We shouldn't be pursuing the things of the earth as if those things are the end all and be all. It's only a glimpse. But often we mistake our journey for the destination and lay roots down in a place that is going to wither away. The things of earth will pass but the things of heaven are eternal. The oases you encounter in the desert is not the promised land. It's only that, an oasis, a temporary respite from the journey.
Remember that when you suffer, it's par for the course. Don't be surprised when it happens. If they crucified JC on a tree, what will the world do to us? If they world loves you, you have to wonder what you're doing wrong. If you're pursuing the things of this world, your treasures will not be in heaven waiting for you. They will be gone as surely as the earth will be gone.
The wilderness exposes our weaknesses. But it's precisely in those moments that G's strength and glory shine through. In our weakness his strength is made perfect and in doing so he glorifies himself. Remember how G was glorified through a despicable, unimaginable death on a cross.
Satan tempted JC with all of the glory of the world if JC would only bow down and worship him. Satan was offering him a way to glorify himself without death on a cross. This was the very thing JC prayed in the garden, to let the cup pass from him, but that G's will would be done, not his own. So he was offering JC all of the glory without any of the shame, pain, humiliation and torture of the cross. How tempting indeed! Of course his obedience to the Father and the Father's great love for us prevented him from ever seriously considering such a temptation. Oh, how he died for a wretched sinner as me, even before I knew him, he died for me.
So consider the sufferings of this journey as a joy. Let them be a reminder that we are pilgrims merely passing through. Keep us longing for heaven, a better place, a place promised for us, flowing with milk and honey.
The speaker showed us the lives of the Israelites as they were wandering the wilderness from Numbers. He reminded us that as followers of JC, we are pilgrims on this earth, on a journey home. We don't live here. One of the marks of the wilderness is suffering. The Israelites weren't meant to live on manna and quail. Instead those provisions were supposed to nourish them and strengthen them for the time they were in and point them towards what was better in the promised land. If G gave them milk and honey in the wilderness it would have simply confused the Israelites into thinking they had already arrived to the promised land.
We are wandering the wilderness as well. We have blessings but those are only a shadow of the blessings we will receive when we get to heaven. We shouldn't be pursuing the things of the earth as if those things are the end all and be all. It's only a glimpse. But often we mistake our journey for the destination and lay roots down in a place that is going to wither away. The things of earth will pass but the things of heaven are eternal. The oases you encounter in the desert is not the promised land. It's only that, an oasis, a temporary respite from the journey.
Remember that when you suffer, it's par for the course. Don't be surprised when it happens. If they crucified JC on a tree, what will the world do to us? If they world loves you, you have to wonder what you're doing wrong. If you're pursuing the things of this world, your treasures will not be in heaven waiting for you. They will be gone as surely as the earth will be gone.
The wilderness exposes our weaknesses. But it's precisely in those moments that G's strength and glory shine through. In our weakness his strength is made perfect and in doing so he glorifies himself. Remember how G was glorified through a despicable, unimaginable death on a cross.
Satan tempted JC with all of the glory of the world if JC would only bow down and worship him. Satan was offering him a way to glorify himself without death on a cross. This was the very thing JC prayed in the garden, to let the cup pass from him, but that G's will would be done, not his own. So he was offering JC all of the glory without any of the shame, pain, humiliation and torture of the cross. How tempting indeed! Of course his obedience to the Father and the Father's great love for us prevented him from ever seriously considering such a temptation. Oh, how he died for a wretched sinner as me, even before I knew him, he died for me.
So consider the sufferings of this journey as a joy. Let them be a reminder that we are pilgrims merely passing through. Keep us longing for heaven, a better place, a place promised for us, flowing with milk and honey.