______ is not the Promised Land.

I put a lot of faith in the promised land. The Promised Land, in my mind’s eye, is where everything will fall into place.  Once I get married, once I have kids, once I get that job, once we find the house, once we move to a certain city, once we get where we are supposed to be going, or achieve a type of lifestyle.  It’s almost as though, my heart believes that the Promised Land is very close, just around the corner. But it seems elusive. This land, flowing with milk and honey remains just out of reach. I tell myself, that if I can just figure out the next right step, if I can just get the last puzzle piece in place, then I will have arrived.  

 But, what if the thing, whatever your fill-in-the-blank is,  isn’t actually the Promised Land?

What if God stands in amazement at the way in which I get stuck in circular thinking and the spinning of wheels?  

What if the journey is just as important as the destination?  

What if God can meet me in the wandering in an even more real way than I ever imagined?  

What if part of it is about being faithful in the before.  Faithful in the wandering and the wondering?  

What if the thing I am looking for doesn’t bring the salvation that I expect?  

What if the very thing I am looking for, I have already found in the person of Jesus Christ?

The Bible starts in a garden and ends in a garden.  And in between God’s people are promised a land in which God will be present to them and they will be present to God and they will flourish and bless all the other nations.  The Bible Project describes the Promised Land as, “a picture of covenant faithfulness as God’s people try (and often fail) to live out their divine calling”.  The thing is, God is always faithful to hold up his end of the bargain.  It’s his people, it’s us, that forget and wander off and whether willfully or not, end up hopelessly unfaithful.  It’s in Jesus, that we find the One who can keep the covenant for humanity and it’s Jesus who through his death and resurrection ushers us into the kingdom of God – the already and not yet kingdom.  

And so, I preach to myself, that _________ is not the Promised Land.  I already have access to the Promised Land, to the thing that will most lead to flourishing and to the kingdom of God in the here and now.  I already get to participate in the unfolding of what God is doing in the restoring and redeeming of all things – right where I am. No next step needed.  

_________ is not the Promised Land, but Jesus is with me. 
He is Emmanuel, God with me.  And his Holy Spirit, the Promised One is with me and for me.  

Is there something you find yourself placing your hope in today?  Something that feels very much like the Promised Land?  As though perhaps you can just figure it out and get that last puzzle piece to fall into place, you might have made it? Maybe if you squint hard enough you can just see it in the distance?  

Can you join me in simply saying, ________ is not the Promised Land; But I know the One who promises he will never leave me, will never forsake me.  I put my trust and hope in Him.  I re-center myself today on his promises and goodness. I ask Him who is faithful to help me to be faithful in the waiting.