In Want + Plenty by Meredith McDaniel

Author:Meredith McDaniel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Living/Women;Providence and government of God—Christianity;Desire—Religious aspects—Christianity;Moses (Biblical leader);Bible. Exodus;XX—Criticism;interpretation;Storytelling—Religious aspects—Christianity;REL012130;REL012120
ISBN: 9781493421244
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2019-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

I imagine the Israelites might have experienced similar feelings but on a much larger scale. As God’s people were learning to trust him and to hunt for the manna in their midst, they remained hesitant. Yet they had seen him provide by the strength of his mighty hand, so they had high hopes that he would not waver in his promises.

A few years ago I sat in an old restored cotton mill and listened to Holly Worsley, a dear friend and one of my favorite Bible teachers, share about Exodus. The fact that she chose to teach on this book of the Bible when I was working on this book was manna in itself. She suggested that God knew an enemy was ahead waiting to attack the Hebrews, and that this may have been why he guided them in the opposite direction. In that moment I realized God has the aerial view. He sees what is around every bend in our life, and he goes before us.

I have found myself sharing this concept with my clients when we get to an honest place in therapy. They say things like, “We have waited patiently for [fill in the blank], and we just don’t know why God is holding out on us,” or “We have done everything right,” or “It’s not like I want the whole world handed to me or something.” What they are actually saying is “I want what I want and I want it right now.” Can you relate? I sure can.

We don’t want to wait or wonder. We want our plans to unfold seamlessly, and we think because we dreamed something up, it must be what’s best. We think, I’ve worked so hard and tried to be so good, and then we view ourselves as a victim of our circumstances. We want the remote so we can fast-forward to the good parts, because we don’t want to relive the past or wallow in the darkness too long.

I also know that simply saying, “Well, God has the aerial view” can sound patronizing at first. If you said that to me, I would mentally roll my eyes. However, if we really sit back and consider that this could be true, trusting that God sees what’s ahead of us, we could start to find the peace and rest that we’ve been hunting for in all the wrong places.

In his commentary on Exodus, Douglas Stuart notes that “God knew [the Israelites’] limited perspectives and naive expectations full well and thus led them away from Philistine territory.”3 This not only affirms that God sees far beyond what we can but also suggests that he can see our inner thoughts. Only God has a window into what we really think and believe about him and about ourselves and the life we inhabit, which reveals that what we think matters to God. He knows us well, and in wanting the best for us he lovingly guides us through detours that don’t always make sense. Alec

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