The Journey to God

It is said that the Chinese character for crisis is actually a combination of two different word images: "danger" and "opportunity." Your outcome depends on the choices you make when you're faced with catastrophe. Not being a linguist, I cannot vouch for that metaphor. But I can say this: it seems we have come to one of those fearful moments of possibility.

It has been years since I have tapped into so much communal anxiety. People are afraid to talk about the value of their homes for fear of learning that they owe more than the house is currently worth. Others are afraid to check on their IRA accounts because they dread discovering how much they've lost. The rising prices of nearly everything has cut into personal budgets, and the list of bad news just gets longer everyday.

Worst of all, a growing number of Americans have lost all confidence in our leaders. The President seems tentative and distracted. With approval ratings around 10%, Congress remains poisoned, partisan and polarized. We worry that no one is smart enough to have the answers or strong enough to make such difficult decisions. At last, our problems are too big for us.

I recently spent eighteen months trekking through Exodus and wondering why God is so fond of deserts. A few months into the journey, the answer was obvious. God calls people to deserts because sand, sun, and solitude have the power to strip away all the pretense and prepare us to encounter the Most High God. Make us comfortable and we always become proud and independent. Toss us into the desert where the sand is blistering and even basic necessities are hard to find, and we quickly recognize our place in the cosmos. We are simple, needy souls.

Whenever the second book of the Bible is mentioned, most of us tend to imagine the Israelites departing Egypt and making their way to the land of Promise. But that's not really the story line. In fact, Exodus concludes nearly thirty-eight years before the Jews reach the long awaited Land of Canaan. Yes, the starting point of Exodus is Egypt, but the destination is not Canaan.

When the Israelites first arrive at Mount Sinai, God tells them, "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself."

The destination was always God. He would finally deliver his people to Canaan, but even more importantly, the desert would bring them to Him! God was their destination. The unrelenting heat, the scorching wind, the absence of food and water, and the sense of nowhere-ness would transform the people and create a different sort of nation- a holy one.

Perhaps God has brought us to such a desert moment in American life. It seems there are no answers for our questions. There is no man or woman who can stand in the gap. The road seems long and winding, with no hopeful sunset in sight. How did we come to a crisis like this so suddenly, so quickly? Perhaps it was eagle wings that brought us here. It may be that our Heavenly Father is once again bringing us to Himself.