Do you ever wish deserts had warning signs as you enter in?  I do.

Maybe a flashing red light or a yellow sign suggesting it’s time to grab your water bottle….just a little hint that a dry and weary land is up ahead.  Unfortunately, no such signs usually exists. Emergencies are just that. Sudden and immediate, with no time to mentally prepare yourself.

One minute you’re making plans to pack for spring break and the next minute you’re packing for a hospital stay.

Just. Like.That. My family entered the desert.

In Deuteronomy 8:15, we read “He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions…”

After such an extravagant exodus out of Egypt, why would God lead those very same people through a dreadful desert? God gave them a nice, safe pathway through the Red Sea, He could have done the same for them in the desert. But He chose not to.  

Earlier in the same chapter, Moses explains why. “The Lord your God led you all the way through the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart..”

It’s one thing to sing, teach, preach, pray, and write nice little blogs while we are up on the mountaintop, but it’s a whole other story to do those things when you are in the valley or in the desert.  But the more I read, the more I realize….Desert routes may not be my preferred route of choice, but it seems to be God’s preferred route of choice. For it’s often in the desert, He is able to perform the miraculous…In us, Through us & All around us.

Sure, there were scorpions in the desert…but there were also miracles in the desert.

Manna on the ground, drinking water from a rock, quail from the sky, shoes and clothes with a lifetime warranty. All amazing miracles God performed as the Israelites wandered in the desert.

Deuteronomy 8:15 begins with a description of the dreadful desert and venomous snakes but the verse ends with a miracle displaying God’s power and provision,  “He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of a hard rock.”

Whatever it is you are going through today, I pray you are encouraged.

In the midst of your desert,  God can perform the miraculous.  

-Binu