Deuteronomy 2:7 The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.

After a year sabbatical, we’re … back. Exploring the strange or amazing or head scratchingly curious moments in reading the Bible. Let’s be clear: I’m doing this for me but if you want to read along – and comment – please, be my guest!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt like I was in the wilderness a lot lately.

The weather is up and down.

My health has been up and down.

The election potentials have me… down.

The schedule of racing here and there, checking off this and that thing, has me up and down.

And then there’s this tidbit of inspiration stuck in the middle of an otherwise, reasonably boring passable about what the Lord expects from his people after their wandering: Even while you were lost and wandering (and punished), you weren’t without.

In other words, even in the wilderness, God was with them.

Even in the wilderness, God was with them.

Wow. Intellectually, I know that; spiritually, I believe that.

But sometimes, I need to be reminded.

The angels reminded Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, the wise men, the shepherds — that they were not alone! That God was with them (Immanuel).

I don’t know exactly what you’re going through – if you’d like to message me, I will pray for you – but I am encouraged by the reminder that even in the midst of life’s storms or wildernesses or junk, the good news is that God is with us.

We are not alone.

The best of all, God is with us. — John Wesley