hidden stars
Gregory Bishop
(Audio: Spanish)
SUMMARY: The desert is the perfect school of faith, where God calls and forms his servants. In Deuteronomy 8, God reminds us that he called Israel into the desert to test and afflict them, to know what was in their hearts, and to teach them that man shall not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. God wants us to remember where our provision comes from, so that we do not forget when we enter the promised land and become prosperous. The desert may seem eternal, but it is a prelude to the promised land, and what we learn there stays with us for the rest of our lives. God calls us to go through his training, to come out stronger and more mature in our faith. We are part of a special generation in the life of Congregación León de Judah, where God is testing us to see if we trust him to draw water from the rock, provide manna, and guide us with a pillar of fire and a cloud. We are called to shine like stars, to walk taller and more confidently, to know that our God is faithful and that he will provide for us.
Deuteronomy, 8. And we are just going to read a text simply, and reflect for a few moments. It is something that I felt that the Lord put in my heart, right now in fact, that I felt that God wanted us to read together, right? I said before that the best school of the Lord is not a classroom, it is, and we talked about it before, the desert.
I don't know if anyone has lived in a desert, I haven't, but I imagine it's not such a beautiful place. God calls his servants there, it is a place where you do not know where the next meal is coming from, it is a place where there is no shade to protect you from the sun, it is a place where you do not look at anyone, you feel completely alone sometimes. It is a place that seems to be eternal, that you do not see the end because there are horizons everywhere and you only see sand and everything dry. And our Lord says, 'there, my perfect school of faith' And he called Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, Moses and all his people, Jesus himself into the desert to be formed.
I don't know if anyone has lived in a desert, I haven't, but I imagine it's not such a beautiful place. God calls his servants there, it is a place where you do not know where the next meal is coming from, it is a place where there is no shade to protect you from the sun, it is a place where you do not look at anyone, you feel completely alone sometimes. It is a place that seems to be eternal, that you do not see the end because there are horizons everywhere and you only see sand and everything dry. And our Lord says, 'there, my perfect school of faith' And he called Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, Moses and all his people, Jesus himself into the desert to be formed.
