Journey of a "Prodigal" - Part 2: What, no Moses?

I wrote in the first part of this blog that, “Believers often speak of their “wilderness  experience” but this rarely equates to experience as a Prodigal.” However, I do believe that the journey of a prodigal back to the father can mean that one inhabits the “wilderness” for a time. We can either get stuck there – by choice or circumstance - or are just journeying through, and neither context makes that sojourn any easier. Whatever, my situation, I believe that I am here in the wilderness at the moment, and that is a significant challenge.
I was struck by the clarity with which a sermon spoke to me recently; it was about the Israelites and their troubled journey out of Egypt focusing on Exodus 14 (parting the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s comeuppance). What I got from that was a better sense of where I am in my journey as a “Prodigal”: I have chosen to leave the slavery of this world behind to begin a journey to the promised land and a new life, yet I dwell in the wilderness, pursued by my old life, and in danger of returning from whence I started - either willingly because the first part of the journey is difficult to adjust too, or because my old life might catch up with me and enslave me again.
In their journey the Israelites had Moses, who was not the towering hero portrayed by ‘Hollywood’, no: he was an old man, no great orator, who with a great sense of his own inadequacies led the people out of Egypt. It is important to remember; it is important for me to remember what Moses was like! It was not Moses who bellowed “Let my people go”, it was not Moses who sent the incredible, fantastical plagues. It was not Moses power that challenged the power of the greatest Superpower on earth at that time, again no: It was God! It was God’s people and it was God’s unfathomable power that set the Israelites free and made an example of the Egyptian god/king.
So here I am in the wilderness! I am here by the grace of God and it is through his power that I have been rescued from slavery. Yet I am in the wilderness all the same! I am not sure there is a Moses figure here with me, but I am certain that I am in danger, and that it is only God’s power that can save me from being enslaved again, it is only God who can defeat the enemy, it is only He who can guide me through the wilderness into the promised land!

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