Passing Through Transition: Days to Years

Reading Psalm 105 had me pondering and reflecting on the Hebrew people’s last days in Egypt and what the Lord had done for them. Whether or not the Hebrew people believed it completely or even if they understood all that was happening, they did though prepare for their exodus out of Egypt. The Egyptian Pharaoh drove out the Hebrew people from Egypt. The Hebrew meaning for “drove out” is herding them towards redemption. The all-knowing Lord seeing the big picture for His people used Pharaoh to do His bidding by helping to herd the Hebrew people from slavery and oppression towards redemption and life.

What should have only taken days to arrive to the Promised Land ended up taking 40 years. So, why such a long journey? God used those 40 years to bring about transformation in the lives of His chosen people for them to be His people and He to be their God. Transition comes from within us, and it takes time to process, to grieve the losses, be equipped with new tools, understanding, and wisdom for the new springs of new normal to arise and come to fruition.

The wilderness did not come without its grumblings and murmurings and complaints all along the way. We read that the Hebrew people were hungry and thirsty. They complained how better it was back in Egypt than being in the desert and they wanted to go back. But what the wilderness does is to help strip off and release the old garments, to throw away the old ways of doing things, to take off the old lens of perceiving things in order to make room for the new. This takes time. It is hard. And yet, so often, we are like the Hebrew people, wanting to go back to what was known and familiar.

The Hebrew people had Moses, Aaron, and Joshua to encourage and support them all along the journey towards the Promised Land. They also had the presence of the Lord with them always, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to be their anchor in the midst of the change and transition. Who are your anchors in the midst of change and transition? What helps you to keep on keeping on and not wishing or desiring the old familiar ways?

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