The Modern Exodus

Deuteronomy 8:1-5 - Keep and live out the entire commandment that I'm commanding you today so that you'll live and prosper and enter and own the land that God promised to your ancestors. Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don't live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God's mouth. Your clothes didn't wear out and your feet didn't blister those forty years. You learned deep in your heart that God disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child.

I read this passage last night and it really jumped out at me. I was struck with the thought of just how relevant the Old Testament is. Not just for knowing our history and the prophecies about the Messiah to affirm our faith, but to instruct us how to live.

Look at this passage. We never entered a land promised to our ancestors. We weren't literally led through a wilderness for forty years. God never gave us manna to eat when we were hungry. But we know all about wandering through a foreign place without any clear directions, without any foreknowledge. We know about going spiritually hungry with only God to satisfy us. We have felt God discipline us the way our earthly parents punish us and set us back on the right track.

As Moses said, God tests us to see how we react. He wants to know where our true loyalties are, if we walk the walk or not. It reminds me of when Jason and Kim left First Pres. It was so tempting to curse at God and never speak to Him again for taking them away from me. But somewhere, in the back of my head or deep in my heart, I knew that the only One I could go to was God. And He was the One to comfort me and lead me out of that unfamiliar "wilderness". I think that that moment really solidified my trust in God and the way that I love Him. It's unconditional. I know that sometimes, well, a lot of times, I don't hold up my end of the deal. But if the Old Testament is as relevant as God says it is, then He's been carrying out both sides of the bargain since He put Abraham in a deep sleep and performed the covenant ceremony alone.

I'm glad that I can rely on God like that, and that He put Himself in such a vulnerable position for me. I know that we are all undeserving, but the fact that He would do this for us so early in the salvation process gives me hope. And now I know what God wants me to do: love Him; keep His commands; love others. Bear good fruit. I can't do it alone, but thank God for staying by my side while I try. :)