How to leave the wilderness.

When the Israelites left Egypt they thought it would be a quick route through the wilderness, but it ended up being a long journey. Scholars estimate that it should have taken them 11 days to navigate their way through the wilderness and into the land God had promised to them.

When we the church shut down in March of 2020, we thought it would be a quick route through the pandemic, but it ended up being a long journey. Scientists estimated that it would take 21 days to flatten the curve, and navigate our way through COVID-19 and into a thriving future.

I get it, you’re done with talking about this.

• Some of you may be afraid to talk about the pandemic.
• Some of you may be triggered to anger when the pandemic comes up in conversation.
• Some of you are so sick and tired of hearing about the pandemic, to the point you’re refusing to acknowledge it anymore.

If you’re feeling any one of those emotions right now, you’re in the perfect place to begin this journey.

Consider for a moment, the Israelites’ exit from the wilderness and the hard lessons they learned as a parallel to lessons we can learn, leaving our wilderness experience. This is an important moment for the Church and you and I. We have some work to do.

• We have to acknowledge the pain of the past two years.
• We have to allow God to heal our wounds.
• We have to assess the road ahead of us.
• We have to aim for a healthy, unified future.

Numbers 13:25-32

25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Numbers 14:6-9

6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.”

They chose fear over faith.

When it was time to leave but fear kept the people of Israel in the wilderness and pointed them back to the bondage of Egypt. Faith could have led them out and pointed them forward to the promise of God. There was a strange desire for familiar bondage over unknown promise.

The People of Israel would be sent back into the wilderness for 40 years until the next generation was ready to enter the Promised Land. Only Caleb and Joshua chose faith over fear. Only Caleb and Joshua would live to see God’s promise fulfilled.

We’ve been in a wilderness.

We’ve been in a wilderness over the past two years. Our wilderness has been social, societal, phycological and political. It’s been very exhausting, like walking through the wilderness. We have been bombarded with fear through confusion, isolation and polarization.

• There have been conflicts between family members and close friends.
• There have been job losses and relocations.
• There has been a wide variety of mental health struggles stemming from a wide variety of issues.

What issues? Here’s a list that I came up with in two minutes.

• COVID, masks, vaccines, or government mandates.
• Freedom of choice, freedom of speech, or freedom of religion.
• Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, or Elon Musk.
• Climate change, electric vehicles, Black Lives Matter, or All Lives Matter.
• LGBTQ, Trans-rights, Trans-education, or Trans-sports.
• Ukraine, Russia, gun control, gun violence, or gun rights.

Most recently abortion is back in the polarization circuit. And I’m sure I’m missing a dozen more that you could add to this list. I am fairly certain that at least a few of these impacted you and caused a wilderness encampment in your life, at some point in the past two years.

How did fear keep us in this wilderness?

Here’s how it worked. We, through media and unhealthy conversations, convince ourselves that the others (those that disagree with us) live on the extremes of any or all of the above-listed issues. We push the opposing side to the fringe then we vilify them, but that’s not reality.

As a pastor, I often see people when they have big questions about big issues. This has been especially true over the past two years. I can assure you, after having hundreds of conversations with a wide variety of people throughout our wilderness season. Here’s what I’ve learned.

The extremes are a big fear-based lie.

Most of us are all struggling in the middle. Most of us are not on the extreme right or the extreme left. The vast majority of our population lives in the middle, struggling for answers to questions, struggling to know what to do or say within the confusion, struggling within this wilderness that we’ve created through fear.

Sure, we’re all pulled to the left or the right depending on the issue. (Full disclosure, I’ve looked down my fair share of right-wing-rabbit-holes and thought I saw a juicy carrot.) We’ve all been tempted to one side or another, but we have to remember that fear drives us down those rabbit holes.

Fear drives us to extreme thinking, on the right or the left, on any hot-button issue. And that’s how fear keeps us in this social, societal, phycological and political wilderness.

[bctt tweet=”Fear drives us to extreme thinking, on the right or the left, on any hot-button issue. And that’s how fear keeps us in this social, societal, phycological and political wilderness.” username=”PastorJNorton”]

We need to leave this wilderness!

We need to leave this wilderness as individuals, and as the Church, because we’re called to something greater. We need to have faith like Caleb and Joshua and cling to God’s promises.

• Fear will keep us in the wilderness and pull us back to slavery.
• Faith will lead us out of the wilderness and point us to God’s promise of eternity.

[bctt tweet=”Fear will keep us in the wilderness and pull us back to slavery. Faith will lead us out of the wilderness and point us to God’s promise of eternity.” username=”PastorJNorton”]

How do we get out of this wilderness? Thankfully, we live in a more fulfilled time than the Israelites, with the entirety of Scripture and a fulfilled promise of God in Jesus. Faith in God’s promise leads us out of the wilderness. Listen to Jesus’ words from John 14:

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)

[bctt tweet=”“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)” username=”PastorJNorton”]

Our home is found in Jesus. Whenever this world bombards us with fear, confusion, polarization and division, we’ve got to bring Jesus into focus. We must abide in Him, dwell in Him, and focus on Him!

If we can get there as individuals, if the Church can get there, we can have a massive impact on our world. I’ll leave you with some advice on right-left polarization from the great evangelist, Billy Graham.

“We have to stand in the middle to preach to all people, right and left.” (B. Graham)

[bctt tweet=”“We have to stand in the middle to preach to all people, right and left.” (Billy Graham)” username=”PastorJNorton”]

Join the Conversation; Share Your Thoughts

• How will I recentre my life on Jesus?
• How will I leave the wilderness, and recommit my life to Christ?
• How will I leave slavery and make Jesus my dwelling place?
• What action will I take today to leave the wilderness of fear and embrace the promised land of faith?