The journeyings of the children of Israel in the wilderness were intended to be instructive to them — and to us. At the end of the wilderness journey, but before they crossed Jordan to the promised land, we find Moses addressing them in these words: “Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee.”
There was much connected with the wilderness journey, the remembrance of which was fitted to humble them and make them feel ashamed — their sins, their unbelief, their rebellion and obstinacy, and their unthankfulness. Their many backslidings in the wilderness were sore reminders to them of what they were in themselves and of what they would be if left to themselves. Yet there were also considerations to encourage them as they recalled the Lord’s dealings with them during their wilderness journey. They would be reminded of the patience and long-suffering of God with them over such a long period of time. They could recall the faithfulness of God to His promises. The sin and guilt was on their side; He was still the covenant-keeping God of Jacob. The memory of “that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water,” but in which the Lord had so miraculously sustained and preserved them, would confirm to them that the wilderness was the Lord’s appointed way for them, and was therefore the right way. (Ps. 107, 7.) They would remember, too, the daily manna intended to make them never forget that “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”
As we enter a new year we are reminded that we, too, are on a journey in the wilderness of this world. In the light of the experience of the children of Israel in the wilderness, it ought to be our concern to know if the Lord is leading us as He led His people Israel of old. If the Lord is our God then He is assuredly leading us, for it is true of His people that “He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by springs of water shall He guide them.” (Is. 49, 10.) He who found Israel in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness, also led him about, instructed him, kept him as the apple of His eye. (Deut. 32, 10.) He is the same God still. He will never leave nor forsake His people. But He will show them, as He showed Israel of old, what is in their hearts.
I would now ask — Is the Lord thus leading and instructing you? Are you seeing His hand in all His dealings with you? If you are Christ’s then this will be so. Are you not finding out daily the corruption, deadness and hardness of your own heart? Do you not find enough in yourself to humble you and make you ashamed? Are you not constantly in need of the cleansing efficacy of the blood of atonement? Are you not in some measure at least aware, and becoming more aware, of what the outcome would be if you were left to yourself? Are you not in utter despair as far as any hope in yourself is concerned, and are you not closed into Christ as your only hope for time and eternity? Is He not all your salvation and all your desire? Have you not to acknowledge much of the Lord’s goodness, long-suffering and mercy in His dealings with your own soul? As you look back have you not to say “hitherto hath the Lord helped us”? Surely then at the outset of another year you have a song of praise upon your lips and in your heart to the One who has carried you thus far, saying with the psalmist:
I will sing to the Lord most high,
so long as I shall live;
And while I being have I shall
to my God praises give. (Ps. 104, 34. Met. Ver.).
You who read this, however, may still be living without God and without hope in the world, unconcerned as to the things of eternity and your interest in the Gospel of God’s dear Son. To you the Lord says: “Consider your ways.” Time is short; eternity is long. Beware lest the Avenger of blood overtake you while you are still out of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only refuge for poor, lost, guilty sinners. “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” (Gen. 19, 17.) Flee to Christ to cover you. Let seeking Christ be your main pursuit. At the footstool of mercy and grace seek the life and salvation that is in Christ Jesus. Who can tell but the year 1970 will be the opening of an era of blessing and good to your soul?
May we all be enabled by divine grace to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” (Heb. 12: 1, 2.) Only in this way shall we enjoy a happy new year and, what is ultimately of far more consequence, a blessed eternity.