Be Careful What You Ask For, You Just Might Get It

by Stephanie Page
(Minneapolis, MN.)

We have all heard that saying, be careful what you ask for. I can picture my mother, brows raised looking at me out of the corner of her eye admonishing me to be careful because you never know what you might get.

I guess the Israelites could have used a mom around to raise her eyebrows at them back in the days of Moses. I am looking specifically at what went wrong when God told them to head into the promised land, a land he had said he would give them. A land that he had dried up the Red Sea to bring them to. The land he had in mind when he protected them from the front and behind. He being God. The one who had rescued them from slavery.

Yet the Israelites, like us, had a short memory and they let fear get the best of them. In Deuteronomy 1:27 they declare "The Lord hates us, so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us." Does anyone else see the foolishness of this statement? The Lord hates us? How do yo figure? Because he rescued you, protected you, and is now about to give you a land flowing with milk, honey and everything you could want?

So often we too are like the Israelites. We want a way out of our present circumstances, we ask for God's best in our life and so he begins to work. He takes us out of our "Egypt" whatever it may be. He works in our lives, does miracles, provides for us, leads and guides us. Then it is time for us to step into what he has for us and maybe the way he is wanting us to move into his best for us, doesn't look like how we envisioned. There He is saying here it is, my best for you! Take the first step, I am with you- remember how I have worked on your behalf? I am not finished yet! Let's do this!

What do we say? I am scared. I want to go back. What have you done? This isn't what I had in mind. I want what is safe. Comfortable. Easy. Even if it does mean I am enslaved, at least there I knew what to expect. At least there wasn't the fear of the unknown.

We like the Israelites would rather sit in slavery and misery than humble ourselves and step out in faith to follow God.

Well, we should be careful what we ask for. The Israelites decided that God would have showed his love for them by leaving them in Egypyt and so God gave them what they wanted. Deuteronomy 1:40 says, "But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route of the Red Sea" In other words? Go back to where you came from. It is what you wanted, isn't it?

So the question posed for you and I today is this, will we walk into the promised land and trust God? Or will we stay in the "comfort" and "safety" of the desert following our own way.

I don't know about you, but I think I am going to keep moving forward, one step at a time, following the one who brought me through my Red Sea and who will bring me right into the Promised Land.