“If only the Lord had
killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with
meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this
wilderness to starve us all to death.” Exodus 16:3
The thing I feared most had just happened. After working for
two and a half years at one company, the economy took a bad turn and my company
began downsizing, and my job was one that was cut.
The following three months included the Thanksgiving and
Christmas holidays and lots of job searching. It was the hardest situation that
I had to face in my working life. I had landed that job right at the end of my
senior year of high school, and although I had some problems and complaints
about my situation at the time, I was not ready to start over somewhere else.
Suddenly, the things I had been unhappy about didn’t seem all that bad, and all of the "if only..." statements began dancing around in my head. Even
after I had started my new job, I still found myself missing my co-workers and
my old job.
Previous situations always seem more desirable when you’re
facing the unknown future, and struggling on your way to it. Past struggles seem
to dim in intensity once you’re facing something you’re not sure you will be
able to get through.
It doesn’t mean the old challenges were any easier. It’s
simply the fact that the old is familiar, and you’re not facing it now.
Whatever your current
struggles and challenges are, they are an invitation to trust God more.
Just ask Him to show you how you can trust Him in your current season. God’s
command in Exodus 16:4 required the Israelites to trust Him daily by gathering
just enough bread for the current day.
Then the Lord said to
Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the
people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will
test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.”
God calls us to trust Him with our today. Each “today” brings us to the next place
God wants us to be.
I eventually returned to the original company I worked for,
but it was not until I gave my life over to God and allowed Him to begin
changing me. When I returned, I was a very different person from who I was when
I left. This is what God desires for you: continuous
growth in Him, to become more like Jesus, and in turn, reach out to others who are facing a tough season of their life.
What previous seasons or situations seem easier compared to what you
are dealing with now?
What challenge are you facing right now that God is asking you to trust
Him with?
How can you step forward to trust God with your “today”?
