LENTEN DEVOTION FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22

Remember the long way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)

This time of Lent is a time to remember that the feeling of being lost, adrift, far from God is a very human experience. Jesus experienced it. Saint Paul experienced it. The books of Job and Jonah tell of it. Mother Theresa experienced it. The time in the wilderness after the Israelites left Egypt is a metaphor for that sense of wandering purposelessness. Where am I going? What am I doing here? How did I get here? Perhaps our busyness hides it from us for a time, but it is there in the background, a hunger we cannot name. The scripture suggests that God had a purpose in leading the Israelites into the wilderness. Jesus also was led into the wilderness for a purpose (Matthew 4:1-11). Why would a loving God leave us to wander alone and hungry in a wilderness? Perhaps God is leading us toward an understanding of our need for something more than physical nurture. We are created by God to need God, but how easily and happily we wander away. We seek new and exciting experiences, the pleas
ures of food and company, the joys of beautiful things ... lovely for a time, they leave us empty and wanting more, never truly satisfied. In the wilderness, God is leading. God is there, unseen, waiting. What does God want of God's people? That they be humble, knowing always that it is God who is leading them, providing for them, caring for them. That in their hearts they put God first: "You shall have no other gods before me." And finally that they keep God's commandments, practicing every day the way of living that defines them as God's people.

Lord, help me to remember when I feel lost that You are always there waiting for me and I will find you in the simple faith practices I learned as a child: prayer, scripture, service, and church. Amen.

Charlotte Fischer