Deuteronomy 2:7

Surely the Lord your God has blessed you in all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.

There are miracles to be found

in the wilderness,

there in the barren lands,

there among the battered rocks,

caught up in the whirlwind

of a sandstorm

and then spit back out,

cast out and abandoned.

These lost places—

these forgotten places,

home to the scorpions of worry,

the snakes of doubt,

the dragons of despair—

these places hold secrets,

buried in the sand,

seeds of salvation,

memories of manna

and water that flows from rocks,

memories of Divine visitations

in burning bushes and high

up on mountaintops,

memories of miracles,

memories of a God

who walked with His people

through the wilderness

for forty years,

and no matter the desert,

no matter the drought,

no matter the famine,

He was there

to feed them,

to comfort them,

to protect them,

and to drive them on.

Forty years to reach the promised land—

some miracles take time,

but God is always there waiting.

God waits for us in the wilderness.

He waits to give us direction,

like He did with Hagar.

He waits to test our resolve

like He did, wrestling with Jacob.

He waits for us in silence

as He did with Elijah.

And He waits for us to show us

the way home.

Some miracles, most miracles, take time,

but are always there waiting for us in the wilderness.

Amen.