Trusting God in the Deserts of our Life – Sunday Grace Notes

Many times, we walk paths that are difficult for us to face and we quickly forget the importance of trusting God in the deserts of our life.

When we lived in Vegas many years ago, we always loved to drive up to Southern Utah for the day and explore.

There are so many beautiful spots to explore.

And many times, you are surrounded by so much grandeur where it feels like it’s just you in this large world.

That feeling of aloneness is overwhelming.

That had to be how the people of Israel felt when Moses led them away from the Red Sea.

²² Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water. When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”).

Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded.  So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink.

It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him.  He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”

 After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water.

Exodus 15: 22-27, NLT

Trusting God in the Deserts of our Lives

Can you imagine walking in the desert for 3 days without any water to drink?

And then when they finally find water, it is too bitter to drink.

Nowhere to find relief or remedy. It must have felt like a cruel joke.

And of course the people of Israel groaned with anxiety!

But in these circumstances, they should have directed their prayers to God.

Not only did they neglect to pray, but they came after Moses commanding him to arrange with God to give them water.

In the wilderness, we quickly forget hope.

In the beginning of Exodus 15 – the first eighteen verses, they are singing a song of praise to God.

The Lord is my strength and my song,

    and he has become my salvation;

this is my God, and I will praise him,

    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Exodus 15:2

And they quickly lose sight of the rejoicing in Him just in a matter of days.

When problems arise in our life that seem unsurmountable, our hope quickly turns to despair.

Contentment is elusive.

And we long and crave for satisfaction.

But when we are in the valley of dissatisfaction, we forget that He has given us hope.

Or we so quickly we lose it.

Proverbs 13:22 says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

We know hope is tied to practicing our faith. Believing that, no matter what, God is going to care for us.

But trusting in the midst of trials can be difficult.

No matter who we are, it all really does come down to trusting God with all our heart.

Hope is something that we have to grow in.

He tests in the wilderness.

God tested the people Israel by giving them a command to obey.

It was like being born again into a new world, called to learn new thoughts, new feelings, new attitudes, new values, and new behaviors.

God delivered the Israelites through water, and into a new life as God’s people.

Much like God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, Jesus Christ delivers us from the consequences of sin.

When He tests us in the trails of our lives, He reveals our brokenness and refines our bad thinking.

But we are never alone!

Listen to these promises that God is with us always:

• He will neither fail you nor abandon you (Deut 31:6)
• The Lord will personally go ahead of you (Deut 31:8)
• I will be with you (Josh 1:5)
• For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Josh 1:9)
• He will not leave you or forsake you (1 Chron 28:20)
• He will not abandon His special possession (Ps 94:14)
• Don’t be afraid, for I am with you (Is 41:10)
• I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt 28:20)
• The Lord will hold me close (Ps 27:10)
• I will not leave you (John 14:18)

He leads us into the trials of our life and then meets us there!

Trusting God is not easy sometimes, but it’s also not complex.

We can become entangled in knots that we cannot untie ourselves.

But we were never meant to.

We were meant to trust God with them. And when we do, it is a great relief.

Contentment is learned.

At the end of the chapter, He brings the people of Israel to a place full of shade and multiple springs of water.

He knows when to test us and when to rest us.

Through life’s ups and downs, we need to learn to cry out, “My heart is restless until it finds rest in You.”

From prison, the Lord inspired Paul to write one of his most quoted verses:

Contentment is equivalent to our understanding of His love for us.

He only teaches the secret of contentment in the wilderness.

He loves us so much that he heightens the dissatisfaction in our life in order for us to be content – in Him.

Jesus said “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

He really wants us to experience peace and contentment in this troubled world.

All we have to do is trust Him.

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A week off from any schooling and everyone under one roof!

It is so wonderful – and we have been soaking up every moment we can grab.

The Latest with Us

Thanksgiving was really different for me this year. I know I talked about exploring recipes, but I was thrown a slight curve ball.

I was sick in bed.

Ever since my first bout of Covid, I have developed debilitating ice pick headaches where the pain is short, sharp and in one small location, but it happens over and over again.

This was my worst one yet, lasting almost 3 days. So I spent the day resting and recovering while my boys went to my inlaws to celebrate.

New Happenings

Christmas has fully arrived at our home, so I will be sharing our Christmas Home tour this week – so you won’t want to miss it!

And now that December is nearly here, Trent and I will begin to record our podcast to launch in January!

I am so excited about this and our prayer is that this will bless you!

My Favorites from the Week

Black Friday Deals abound! Have you scored any good deals?

And I finally got myself a new coffee maker. My last Ninja coffee maker was dying a slow death and it took me 15 minutes to brew one, single serve cup.

So I replaced it with this one and I already love it!

My camera is on sale if you are looking for a deal.

My armchair is also over 40% off!

I am hoping to do a cozy winter bedroom refresh and I’m checking out these curtains.

This blanket is also a purchase I plan to make!

• Abundance Not Scarcity – Yr 1 Wk 7
• That Time I Was Redeemed – Sunday Grace Notes – Yr 1 Wk 6
• The Fixer Upper Christian – Sunday Grace Notes – Yr 1 Wk 5
• Trusting God in the Deserts of our Life – Sunday Grace Notes – Yr 1 Wk 4
• God Does Give You More Than You Can Handle – Sunday Grace Note – Yr 1 Wk 3
• Tackling Worries and Sunday Grace Notes – Year 1 Week 2
• Overcoming the Overwhelm: Sunday Grace Notes – Year 1 Week 1