JOURNEY’S END

Hello there dear gist partner. 

How are you doing this fine August Thursday? Here’s hoping that your heart remains strong in the Lord and you never give up. 

Welcome to today’s gist. 

I’ve been feeling out-of-sorts for the last couple of days and I almost decided to skip on today’s gist but then I realized that I am almost always seeming to take a break around August or September and I’ve decided, as much as it lies within me,  not to do that this year. 

As I have been feeling the way I’m feeling, the Lord saw fit to remind me of something He brought to my notice early in the year and I decided to share that. 

When the people of Israel left Egypt, they were all smiles and happiness, celebrating how God ‘showed’ the Egyptians and their pompous Pharoah. 

Then they were faced with the Red Sea in front while Pharoah and his army were advancing menacingly, what did they do? “They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”” (Exodus 14:11-12 ESV) The Lord, who was interested in making one final statement to Pharoah, sank the entire Egyptian army. As dem see wetin God fit do, the Israelites began to sing songs of victory and danced gaily as they watched Pharaoh’s great army sink to the bottom of the Red Sea. 

Then, they met their next speed bump; they were hungry. Food don dey finish, what was their reaction? The Bible records: “and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”” (Exodus 16:3 ESV) What did God do? He provided them with Manna. 

Before we blink 2 times again; “But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”” (Exodus 17:3 ESV) Ahh ahn!!!! Una don quick forget say E give una food now now? Toh! God gave them water. 

Oya na, you think say dem go learn abi? Numbers 11:4-5: “Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” (ESV) Ahh ahn! But why? After God gave them meat and people ate themselves to death, you go think say dem go stop, at all! 

When Moses sent spies to the land the 10 gave their negative report, the people became scared and terrified at the report. What did they do? “And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”” (Numbers 14:2-4 ESV) 

I’m sure that you can see the pattern already; the Israelites’ first recourse whenever they were faced with challenges was to look back to Egypt because Egypt felt like a better option when compared to the wilderness. 

However, there was something the Israelites failed to acknowledge: the wilderness was not the destination, it was the journey. But the Israelites had become so fixated of the discomforts and stress of the journey that they began to look to the past, the very trenches that God was taking them away from, instead of to the destination. 

I’ve found that the Israelites aren’t the only ones who think that way. Sometimes when I am going through a hard time, I want to quit, to return back to what used to be status quo because it felt like that wasn’t too bad a situation, especially when compared to the hardships of the journey. When you’re feeling that way, that’s a good time to remind yourself that it doesn’t end in the wilderness, there’s Canaan on the other side!!!  And when you fix your eyes on Canaan, it becomes easier to discountenance the present discomfort because your eyes are fixed on where your journey ends: in a land flowing with milk and honey! That’s the place Paul’s eyes were fixed on when he said: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18 ESV) 

That, my dear gist partner, is the place from which we must operate, constantly reminding ourselves that this wilderness isn’t where it ends, there’s more! There’s Canaan at the end of whatever wilderness you’re going through; so trudge through if you can’t run, but keep moving, you’ll get to the promised land! 

Don’t stop in the wilderness, it’s not your destination, continue, you’ll certainly get to Canaan!

May the Lord help us to keep our eyes fixed on where our journey ends. 

TUNES AND THOUGHTS: our song recommendation for this week is ‘Settle for Less’ by Khaya Mthethwa and The Uprising. This song is a bold statement, an arrogant one if you want to call it that too, it’s a declaration that I will not settle because I know there’s more! It’s a fine way to answer the devil’s lies about this being all there is to you and for you, to say to God “I know there’s more that’s found in You!” But mind you, it’s only in God that you will find more oo! God has to be in your heart and you have to have submitted to Him for you to be able to access this “more”.

Whatever you need more of, you can always find it in God, I pray this song blesses your heart. 

Audiomack: https://audiomack.com/khaya-mthethwa-1/song/settle-for-less-live?share-user-id=140072136 

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/track/4Xo9grcw19YyxmpHzTbML4?si=P6KsyqYySje6iSYYGnWuvQ 

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yNaTTTrEtnI&si=qLXiMXolSQawqJIe 

Well, that is that about that as far as that is concerned, next week’s gist will be on Friday, e get why, so see you next week!

Love,

Achenyo. 

PS. Tomorrow makes it 5 months since my father passed… please, say a prayer for my family. Thank you.