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A simple verse on my calendar today has prompted so much thinking.

Moses & Aaron are going to Pharaoh & they say:

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness.”Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  (Exodus 5:1 NIV)

I don’t know why but this struck me deeply. They want the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go so that IN THE WILDERNESS they can hold a      festival, a celebration. After years of being enslaved, enduring hard     labor, unfair work conditions & abuse, they are going to go in the wilderness to celebrate. Amazing. But then it hit me –

Does He, our God, ask LESS of us? Somehow I can’t see Him      treating His children differently. Are we, as well, to hold a celebration in our wilderness? Perhaps hold a worship service, praising Him, in the very desert of our lives?

Moses was going to lead God’s people out of Egypt into the        wilderness but they were on their way to the land of promise. Perhaps that is the way we enter into OUR Promised land. Perhaps it is the only way into our Promised land.

Psalm 37: 34 says this, “Put your hope in the Lord. Travel steadily along his path. He will honor you by giving you the land.”

Perhaps it is as we put our hope in the Lord that we honor Him in our wilderness. Perhaps it is as we continue to travel steadily along His path, moving forward towards our Promised Land, that we honor Him & celebrate Who He is. Perhaps that is why He then honors us by      giving us the land – our promised land.

May we continue to hold onto Him, moving forward, pressing on        towards our promised land, the place where we honor Him & bear fruit. He is so worthy of our doing that.

Life is difficult, for certain. But He is greater than it all. And one day, it will all be worth it.

In the middle of our wilderness may we each be faithful to hold a      festival in His honor.