Wandering in the Wilderness

Recently, I was asked to speak at an upcoming Women's Gathering for our local church on the topic of "rest." The irony was not lost on this increasingly sleep-deprived mama, nor was the requester blind to the humorous connotation. Yet, as I've been walking slowly through my Bible alone and tired, asking God earnestly to teach me fresh insights, the words are waking me from drudgery with new perfect parallels and inspiring wisdom. God has allowed me a lack of physical rest to truly teach me what the word means. It is a refinement process I require. Absence of something aids in the analysis of its power.
However, before contemplating rest or R.E.M. sleep, I was first struck by the wives and patriarchs of the Old Testament. So many of them jumped ahead of God's plans, eager to be in the next phase of life they felt they were suppose to enjoy. Often we believe if we can just change one particular avenue of our lives, especially those getting in the way of our plans, everything else would fall perfectly into place. When we try to change people ourselves, we only harm ourselves. Like Jospeh seeking to prove his future value to his big brothers, or Moses trying to judge two fellow Egyptians, our impulsive and impatient remarks merely send us wandering in a prison or a desert. We may be anxious to see God use our lives for something good, or for those excluding God, we may just feel obdurate rights to happiness. Either way, when we prematurely meddle, we miss the maturation process. We all need periods of refinement to properly prepare us for our future. We would never ask a child to skip puberty and head straight into the workforce at the age of seven or eight. There are too many valuable trials by fire that we all endured in those "wandering years." Likewise, Moses' long period in Midian and Joseph's long days in jail refined their patience and character, which prepared their hearts for great leadership. I can't skip these weary days because the wandering makes the wilderness look that much more beautiful.