The Promised Land Is Just Ahead
Monday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
Remember the movie “The Ten Commandments?” How could anyone who has seen it forget it? Charlton Heston did a magnificent job with his part as Moses while Yul Brunner portrayed the Pharaoh, Rameses II.
Our first reading for today describes the arrival at the Red Sea. We can almost feel the emotion. The huge mass of Jewish people in sheer terror and confusion as they see the cloud of dust off in the distance caused by the swift and relentless pursuit of Pharaoh’s chariots. The people cried out to Moses, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians than to die here in the desert.”
These are the same people who witnessed those ten plagues in Egypt. These are the same people who were overflowing with exuberance as they marched out on their way to the Promised Land. You would have thought they’d have more faith in God than they seem to have had. At the appearance of trouble they collapse and want to give up. But God found a way out for them, didn’t he? He told them to “Go forward and move on!”
If we read the rest of the story of the journey through the desert to the Promised Land, we can find God helping the Jews time and time again to get through very rough and difficult years. Each time, though, they complained and were ready to give up. They wished they had stayed home in bed.
Do you feel like that at times? Everybody does. We all have troubles and obstacles in our lives. But God is with you. He is parting seas and making you a way through it all. Trust him. He’s done you okay so far, hasn’t he? Let him take you the rest of the way through your desert. The Promised Land is just ahead.
