One of the things Cara and I talk about in this podcast episode is an oversimplified version of Christianity. I’ve been reading through Exodus lately, and I’ve realized how often I think of God’s work in our lives through an oversimplified perspective. I think about the Israelites in Egypt, and then I skip ahead to the Promised Land.

If I give any thought at all to their 40 years in the desert, I tend to think of those years as unfortunate. But those 40 years were the years of formation. They were the years of depending on God for manna in the desert, of forming a social order, of receiving the law that would guide them into life, of seeing God’s glory. Those years were intentional and good. So much of our lives here on earth are years in the wilderness, and we deceive ourselves—and disappoint ourselves—if we expect to skip from oppression to the promised land.

I’ve been so grateful to think of the goodness and purpose embedded within even a time of wandering in the wilderness.

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