Where are YOU?  Is the place that you are in right now where you want to be?  Are you happy?  Content?  Satisfied?  Restless?  Unmotivated?  Miserable?  How have things been going?  Well?  Could be better?  And how do you feel about it?  Fine?  Not fine?  Indifferent?

This morning I was reading in Deuteronomy and I came across an amazing truth that applied to my life.  Honestly, didn’t really think I would find something like that in Deuteronomy – at least not in the first chapter.

Moses had sent 12 spies into the land to check it out.  This was the land that God had promised them.  Interesting that even though God said, “It’s all yours”, they still needed to investigate.  Anyway, the spies came back and gave their report and, like most news stories, it served only to foster fear in the Israelites.  The Israelites came to that crucial junction of fight or flight.  They chose not to fight.  Even though God told them to go into the land, they refused and sat in their tents, complaining.(v.26)  They began to speculate that God must hate them and that is why He brought them there – to have them slaughtered by the people who were already occupying the land.  Ya know – like a big, mean, towering God laughing maniacally at their impending demise.  (Insert one eyebrow raise). Not exactly consistent with the character of God they had seen so far.

The next thing Moses said is what struck me the most.  The part that hit home with my life right now.  And totally was what the Israelites needed to hear too.  God is really cool like that sometimes – making the connection between His people. Moses says, “But I said to you, ‘Don’t be shocked or afraid of them! The LORD your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt. And you saw how the LORD your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.’”(v.29-31)

This hit me right between the eyes – so much so that I wanted to lift the verses right out of my Bible and plaster them on my wall.

“The LORD your God is going ahead of you.”  I have heard that before.  I have prayed that before, saying Lord make the paths straight.  I believe that He does go ahead of us and prepares the way.

“He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt.”  Don’t we all have an Egypt?  Don’t we all have something, at least one thing maybe more, that God has delivered us from? Something or someone we were enslaved to that he has set us free from?

“And you saw how the LORD your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child.”  I had to reread it because at first glance I thought it said how the LORD your God carried you.  Interesting that my mind added those extra “ri” letters that were not there.  He has cared for us and often carried us through the wilderness.  Think about it – what was your wilderness?  What was your time of wandering because you didn’t want to listen to what God was telling you to do?  You thought you knew the way.  You heard Him but didn’t obey.  You felt lost.  Alone.  Unmotivated.  Frustrated.  Rejected.  Unlovable.  Unwanted.  Unable to find your way to the land your God had promised you?  But through all that He cared for you.  He provided just what you really needed, right when you needed it.  Just like a father.  Like your father who loves you but doesn’t always give you the desires of your heart, but rather the needs of your soul.

“Now he has brought you to this place.”  Friend, wherever you are – it’s no accident.  Through all of the trials, the pain, the hurt, the grief, the struggles (and they are real), the change, He is in the driver seat.  He brought you here to THIS place right now.  So, if you are feeling lost, you can’t be.  It’s not possible.  God knows where you are because He brought you right here to this place right now.  He brought you to this crossroads you are facing.  He brought you to this place of uncomfortable growth.  He brought you to this place of contentment if that is where you are.  He brought you to this blog.  Wherever you are – He brought you here.  On purpose.  Think about that.

The God of the whole universe loves you.  He is going ahead of you.  He will fight for you just like he did when he brought you out of your Egypt.  He has cared for you, even when you didn’t care for or respect Him.  Just like your daddy.  Even when you wandered around and insisted on doing it your way.  And now, He has brought you here.  For something.  To do something or be someone to somebody.
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So let me ask again – Where are YOU?