“Is the Lord’s arm too short?” Numbers 11:23a

I heard a message this week on Numbers 11 delivered by Jeff Manion entitled “The Land Between”.  It’s also the title of a new book just released in which he describes the journey of the Israelites between the land of slavery and the land of Promise.  I was intrigued by how easy it is to read these accounts and remove myself from the story.

When you and I read about the Israelites grumbling and complaining about having nothing to eat but manna, it is tempting to condemn them unless we put ourselves in their shoes (or sandals) and imagine what we would have done if we had to eat the same thing every day for two years. It’s likely we would have complained too.  After all, we do it at church, at work, at the restaurant…even in our families. The land between times exist for us, too, just as it did for the Israelites, and such times are fertile ground for discouragement and complaining.

But the land between is not only fertile ground for complaining.  It can also be fertile ground for opening our hands to receive God provisions and blessings if we choose to trust Him.  Further, it is fertile ground for God’s discipline out of which transformational growth will occur.  Again, we have to make choices, and the choices we make in the land between will determine what we will become and what we will see.

Life after 50 can be one of those between periods in our lives.  This is a place in life where the soil is indeed fertile for grumbling, complaining and remembering the “good old days”—remember how good it was in Egypt (even though we were slaves with harsh taskmasters).  In this land between in our journey we must make choices that not only impact the remainder of our lives but the next generations as well.  It’s a time to remember that the Lord’s arm is not too short, and to choose well.

I encourage you to get a copy of Jeff’s book.  It will stir your soul and engage you with the truth about trusting God in the land between.

GRANDPAUSE: “Complaint always resists eviction, but trust has the power to evict complaint.  They are incompatible roommates.” –Jeff Manion