Thursday, August 15, 2024

"Familiar Places"

"And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot."  Deuteronomy 29:5

Yesterday we talked about how much of our lives are lived in the unfamiliar-- places we have never been before, experiences we have never had before, new and uncharted "waters".  But we also live our lives in familiar places.  Once we have been in the unfamiliar places for a while, they become familiar to us.  For example, when I first got married, it was an unfamiliar place to me.  Now, I have been married so long that it is a very familiar place to me.  I am somewhat of a "pro" at marriage and being a wife.  (I didn't say I was perfect at it or had arrived.  I said that I am more familiar with it now and know how to live in it.)

Regardless of whether what we are going through is unfamiliar or familiar, there is a fact that remains--- we need the Lord to help us get through both.  We think we just need His help when we are unfamiliar with where we are and what we are doing.  But we need His help just as much when we are very familiar with where we are.  That doesn't exempt us from needing His help. 

The children of Israel wandered around in the wilderness for forty years-- the same wilderness.  I am sure they could tell you where every stone, every boulder, every rock formation was-- blindfolded.  Did their familiarity negate their need for God-- for His leadership, for His help, for His provision?  NO. 

We don't need to think that just because we have done something for so long, lived in a situation for years, or know what to do, that we "got this".  We still need God's help.  We still need Him daily to navigate us through life-- the unfamiliar and the familiar.

Have a great day.  It doesn't matter where we are or how long we have been there, it doesn't matter how unfamiliar or familiar the places that we are in are, we still need the Lord's help-- we can't do it on our own.

For further reading:
Hebrews 13:6

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