Blog

May 2020

Life on Hold

That’s the title of a new study guide series I’m developing for CMDA. It’s interesting how Israel’s interminable wanderings in the wilderness are like our endless waiting and uncertainty in the wake of COVID-19. Let me explain by giving you a segment from the introduction to Life On Hold.

Israel, the Wilderness and COVID-19

Even though healthcare professionals are programed for “delayed gratification,” COVID-19 has entered our world in ways we could not have anticipated. In a similar way, God upended Israel’s world, and that story may prove insightful as we face our own wilderness.

Exodus 13:17-18 records a significant but obscure reference to a deliberate change in Israel’s flight from Egypt: “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near…But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea…” (ESV).

Why, when the fleeing Israelites were only 8 to 10 days away from the Promised Land, would God deliberately lead them into the wilderness to face one problem after another? You would have thought after 430 years of bondage, God would have led Israel to the Promised Land by the shortest, easiest and most direct route possible. But surprisingly, strangely, He did not.

So, why did God lead His people into the wilderness? And why does God introduce detours, interruptions and a virus into our carefully crafted plans? Why does He upend what we consider to be normal so that we are forced to adapt to a new normal?

When God Hits the Pause Button

One of the challenges we all face is the unexpected in life. The curve balls we didn’t anticipate that threaten our plans, our decisions and our dreams. At those inflection points, those occasions when our lives have been rocked by unexpected change, when what we thought would happen, suddenly doesn’t happen, we have a choice—resist the changes that have been thrust upon us or seek a new perspective—and the unexpected just might be a blessing, challenging us to make a mid-course correction and an opportunity for personal growth and a new direction.

God’s University

The wilderness was God’s University and the curriculum He had in mind for Israel would eventually produce a nation prepared to face life’s challenges in the promised land. What happens to our trust in God when suddenly He hits the “pause button” on our plans and dreams? When life is suddenly plagued by more than a virus, a plague of uncertainty—will we trust God? Someone has said, “One does not learn how to hope and endure in the midst of adversity without going through adversity.”

I believe this is, in part, what the apostle Paul had in mind when he penned these words: “…we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4, NASB).

What might be in God’s curriculum for us? For some reason, adversity seems to be Course 101 right now. I want the results (perseverance, proven character and hope), but I don’t want the process. Israel didn’t either. We never do. But this is a required course.

So, Lord,

Teach me what I need to learn through all this so I will be the person who will bring you glory.

Amen

In the series Life On Hold, we will explore Israel’s wilderness experiences and how the lessons God had in store for them might apply to our struggles with life’s interruptions and uncertainties.

Until, next month – praying for you!

Allan Harmer, ThM, DMin

Midwest Regional Director
cmdamw@cmda.org