The grind might feel meaningless—until you remember who’s walking with you in it.
The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. - Deuteronomy 2:7
I’ve often wondered about the Israelite dads who pitched their tents in the desert, gathered their manna, tore their tents down, walked a few miles, and then pitched their tents again, gathered their manna again, and then, well… you get it. What was that like for them, to not be able to provide for their families, to know they had so much more in them to offer besides efficient tent pitching and waist-bending to gather manna?
You’re not stuck. You’re being shaped.
I think there’s a season in every disciple's journey that’s akin to the desert wandering of the Israelites, and, production leader, if you’re feeling bored with your work right now—unmotivated, uncreative, maybe even a bit cynical about the whole thing—I’d bet your about as deep into the desert wandering season as you can get.
That’s the thing about following Jesus—it’s never what you expect it to be. We want our paths to ascend the mountain as quickly as possible, yet I’m not sure I know a single disciple who’s come up their mountain in a straightforward way. We want the destination, but for Jesus the point is the following. If you check Google Maps, you can walk from Goshen to Jericho in a little over a week. Since the Israelites were traveling in large numbers and there weren’t exactly “roads” in the ancient Levant, we can probably guess they needed… a few weeks? A month, maybe? Clearly, God had something else in mind besides “getting there.”
We want the destination, but for Jesus the point is the following.
If you’re in a season where everything you’re doing seems stale, but you’re doing the right thing and you know you’re honoring the Lord by obediently serving where you are, then you're in the exact right place.
You know what made the desert the right place for the Israelites? The Presence. Moses was so set on the Presence that he told the Lord the Israelites would go no further if God’s Presence wasn’t with them. They were led by a cloud of smoke by day and pillar of fire by night. When they would stop, they set their tents around the tabernacle and could watch the fire come to rest on the holy of holies, right from the front of their tents. It was a foreshadowing of heaven, where night never falls again because the light of God’s presence never fades.
If you pause now, especially when you’re grinding out another service, another event, another conference, another training, or another class, you’ll find the Presence with you. Whatever final path the Lord has set you on, this season is for being near to Him, for learning that He is your provider, your protector, and your guide. As you build something with Him later down the road, it’s key to remember the with-ness you’re experiencing right now, lest you become prosperous and forget that God helped you --- which the Israelites did, despite the Lord’s best efforts to the contrary. They forgot about the Presence once they prospered.
May we not be so forgetful.
