The Difference Between Being Lost and Being Led

"Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went
out into the wilderness." Exodus 15:22

Many people who find themselves stuck in difficult situations
often feel as if they've become lost. Somehow, they've
arrived in a wilderness where everything has dried up and
nothing seems to be growing. Many of them have lived in this
wilderness for so long that they have given up on things
changing and concluded that this must be all God has in store
for them.

On numerous occasions, they have attempted to change their
situation, but all of their efforts have failed.
If this sounds like you, you may not be lost at all! You may
be squarely within the Will of God.

All dry places in life are not the result of being lost. Sometimes
God leads us into dry places and uses them as a place of preparation.
In Exodus 3:8, when God met Moses at the burning bush, He told
him that He was going to deliver His people from bondage and
into a land flowing with "milk and honey". Yet, we know when
God delivered His people from bondage, He led them directly
into a "wilderness" where they spent 40 years.

We know that their wilderness experience had a purpose because the
Bible tells us that there was a shorter route available that they
could have taken and avoided the wilderness altogether. Exodus
13:17 says, "God did not lead them by the way of the land of
the Philistines, even though it was near."

Whenever God leads you somewhere He has a predetermined
purpose for you, even if the route is longer than what you
expected. The longer the preparation, the greater the
promotion. If takes much longer to get a PhD than it does
a GED. I am not putting down those who have a GED. Praise
God for it. For some, it took just as much determination to
get their GED than it did for some to get their PhD. However, we
are speaking of principles.

Oftentimes, your wilderness is the doorway to your promise.
At the initiation of Jesus' public ministry He was not led
into the temple, but into the wilderness. Jesus had to be
first prepared in their wilderness before He could preach his
first sermon. If you are in a wilderness right now, remember what
you learned while there because it will be necessary to sustain
you in your Promised Land. Don't faint or lose heart. You
may be at the door of your promise and purpose.

I know it has been a long journey, but it will be worth your while.
I know others may have arrived sooner at their place of destiny,
and you are still making your way toward your destiny. What God
wants to do in your life, requires preparation, therefore He
had to take you the long way. There are no short cuts in the
Kingdom of God - only God's way. I know, all the while you've
thought that somehow you where lost. You may not have been
lost at all. You just may have been led!

Dr J C Matthews, International Kingdom Institute
An Invitation To The Desert