When we think about how God leads us through the process of spiritual and personal growth, which certainly includes getting us firmly established in our identities, the three words we need to know are: out, through, and in. This is exactly what He did for the nation of Israel and it is a picture of what He does for us in modern times.
I was in my bed having devotion when I read those words.
As you may imagine I was struck with awe. It all started to make sense to me. In all my years of trying to figure out God’s plan for my life that short statement made me feel like I was at least a “grain of sand in the universe” closer to really understanding how God works in my life.
If you’re like me you can testify that trying to understand God fully makes you feel like you’re a dog trying to chase its own short tail in the hopes of catching it. It really is quite funny. However, my problem isn’t that I can’t understand God as much as I’d like (I mean after all what type of God would He be if I could?), I just get frustrated at times by the amount of time it takes me to be a grain of sand wiser.
But hey, I am grateful for every bit of new knowledge that draws me closer to His mind.
If you’re like me and you are trying to figure out even a little bit of how God works in your life, here are three ways God may work in your life to get you to where you need to be.
1: He Leads You Out
First things first, God needs to lead you out of the places you shouldn’t be. This can be anywhere- an addiction, a toxic relationship, bad friends, a damaging career or even bad religion. Examine your life a little bit, you’ll figure what your “bad place” is.
This isn’t foreign to the Bible. God did this with Abraham. He led him out, through and in (you can find this in the chapters starting from Genesis 17 all the way up to the twenty-second chapter). God used the same method with David (and oh boy was it a process). You can learn more about David by reading the accounts given in the books of Kings, Samuel and the Psalms. I think for me the most obvious form of this was how God dealt with the Israelites.
He first had to get them out of their Egyptian bondage. This was after them being there for 430 years. Wowza! God was true to His word in Exodus 6:6 and He got them out “with a mighty hand” as the Bible puts it (Deuteronomy 26:8).
You can image all they had learnt in those 430 years. Clearly they had a lot to unlearn.
2: He Leads You Through
Eiy, this point is a hard pill to swallow.
So, what God had to do next was to remove the Egyptian mindset that His people had. He had to reteach them His ways. Some of the stuff they had to learn was stuff like; how to observe the Sabbath properly, they had to relearn how to trust God fully and how to be obedient to Him. The journey through the wilderness was only an eleven day trek but because God had so much to work with it took the forty years! Shucks, does this ring a bell, does it remind you of someone you know? You maybe?
I know how stubborn I can be, especially towards God, and the crazy part is sometimes I have no idea how bad it is. For most of us this is the most difficult phase. This is the place most of us are in right now. God is carefully trying to refine us in the deepest parts so we are ready to enter our “promise lands”.
God says He “tested” the Israelites and wanted to prove if they would be obedient to Him (Deuteronomy 8:2-16). As you will see by reading the account of their journey, they were so stubborn it took a whole forty years to ready them for Canaan. The sad part is so many of them did not make it past the wilderness.
It’s a sad truth but we need to be careful how we react to God in this phase. Our ignorance and stubbornness will not only cost us our time but also our lives. Some of us should already be living our best lives but we’re not because we are fighting against His will. We need to submit to the process and get it together. I know I do.
There is much to say on this but lets turn this into a discussion. I cannot cover everything in this post otherwise it will be too long and I have a problem with writing restraint. You know what, this is what a podcast would be great for. Thanks for the idea God!
Sorry. Back to the article.
3: He Leads You Into
There really isn’t much to say here. Wait, actually there is but I want to attempt to keep it brief.
God has a plan and purpose for every human being in this world, it doesn’t matter who you are. But here’s the thing, He is the only Way (the Truth and the Light hehe- John 14:6) available to get there. It is His world. We are His people. He knows how things work. Then there’s the Devil. God is the only power easily strong enough to defeat him (the Devil is that spirit many of us forget exists that causes all the drama we go through in one way or another).
After taking us out of stuff and then taking us through some stuff, when we are ready, He takes us into the purpose, the promise, the fairy-tale ending we all strive for. This will be different for everyone. We all have different desires and on top of those, different God ordained purposes.
Getting into anything without God will leave you back at square one and you know what that means, going through the processes again (that is a hell no for me). So as you can see that in all phases God needs to be there otherwise we will be forty-yearing our way through life.
Conclusion
God works in different ways in every individuals life, He is such a creative and can afford to do something differently every time. But what you can be sure of is that whatever it is that you’re in, He wants to and will take you out if you want Him to and whatever it is that you’re going through, He will guide you to the end if you allow it. Finally, if there is a place you want to be, if it is according to His will, you can be sure that He will usher you into it.
Lets talk in the comments below…
