Along the way, Christian faces dangers and troubles but also finds helping hands and encouragement along the way. When he sees Christ's cross and tomb, his burden falls away.
In the Valley of Humiliation, Christian meets the enemy head on. He overcomes the temptations presented by Vanity and others, escapes the Doubting Castle and its owner, the Giant Despair.
Faithful, Ignorance, Hopeful, Goodwill, Error and Caution are just a few of the characters Christian meets along the way. Some help him on the journey and some try to turn him away from the path set out before him.
It is a very old book, written in 1628, but John Bunyan's classic allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress provides an intuitive glimpse of the realities, trials and triumphs of the average Christian's journey in every era.
In Exodus 40, we are given a glimpse of the very real journey taken by God's chosen people as He led them out of Egypt toward the Promised Land.
Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. (Ex. 40:36 ESV)
Don't ever think God just puts His feet up and watches the show as we journey through this life. He is an active participant in the lives of those who love Him. He cares, He sees, He knows and He guides. In Exodus, He led His people in the right direction. He wasn't just allowing them to wander aimlessly.
Sometimes they rebelled and went their own way, just as we sometimes do, but God always faithfully sent a warning or a consequence to direct them back to His ways, just as He does for us. Why? Because He loves us so very much.
Also in Exodus, Moses had a request of the Lord on this journey.
Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. (Exodus 33:13 ESV)
Moses knew that he couldn't do it alone. So, he asked of God, "Show me your ways, that I may know you."
God did show Moses His ways and later, Moses stood before the congregation of the people and said,
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13 ESV)
God also desires that you and I love him, serve Him and keep His commandments. And, like Moses, we can't do it alone either. In Moses' day, God's presence was visible to the people in the form of the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire that led them by day and by night.
In our time, God's people don't usually have a visible manifestation of His presence, but we have the witness of the Spirit of God in our hearts, Who came to lead us by day and by night.
When Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, He said,
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. (John 16:13 ESV)
We don't have to wander aimlessly through this life as though we are lost in a wilderness. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us on the journey. He guides us into all truth; He leads us on the journey. A GPS system may work well to get you from one point on this planet to another, but it can't direct you to God's Word or His way. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.
Where does He lead? He leads us "into all the truth." That's where every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ should be going, getting closer to the Father and travelling in the direction of truth - real, everlasting truth - God's truth.
So, where are you going?
{Daily Selah} is a mini-devotional, a pause to ponder about the Lord and how He wants us to live.
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