Life is a Zig-Zag

I attended a small Christian college in western Pennsylvania where we were required to attend morning chapel 16 times a semester. Very few people enjoyed it. Partly because it was in the morning and it was forced and partly because the majority of the speakers in chapel were bogus. The message was rarely convicting or Bible-based and therefore soon forgotten. But there were some, every now and then, that would speak truth and it would stick with you forever. Today I am remembering a particular service where a Sovereign Grace pastor stood up and told us that, "Life is a zig-zag." In his presentation he mapped out for us the path that Israel took from Egypt to the promised land. When he showed how Israel went forward, then backwards, then sideways; it was quite baffling. Why would God do this to his people whom he loved and redeemed? Why not take them straight to Canaan? It would have been so much easier and shorter. Why did he have them fight so many battles? Why did he make them feel tired, hungry, and thirsty? The answer lies in the fact that the deliverance from Egypt and the wilderness wanderings were pictures of the  gospel and the Christian life. Like Israel, we were comfortable and at ease serving a cruel King whom did not know the LORD. We lived in a dominion of darkness. And like the people of Old under the deliverance of Moses our bonds to sin were broken when we believed in  Jesus the great Redeemer and fled to him. But the story wasn't over at the Red Sea and our lives are not over when we believe the gospel. There is still the hard and grueling trek to the promised land. The great truth that I heard that morning was that, for the Christian, this pilgrimage is never a straight line. It is always a zig-zag. Sometimes you will feel like you are regressing and going backwards and sometimes you will feel stagnant. These are the times of frustration. Of grumbling and murmuring against God and his servant. "Why couldn't you just leave me alone, I am not better now than I was before I became a Christian." "Where is the land flowing with milk and honey that you promised? All that I know is this desert wasteland."But we must remember that it is in these times that God is testing us. He is refining us and removing all of our dross, weaning us from the love of the World, teaching us to trust and depend solely on him. He sends us backward because we need to be sent backward. Trusting continually in Christ is foreign to us and God must teach us over and over again. I remember this message so clearly because I need it so much. Lately life seems stagnant, I don't feel like I am becoming more like Christ. I have been getting frustrated and angry because life seems hard. But I need to stop and remember that for the Christian, life is promised to be hard. And while it is hard, I must also remind myself of the staggering benefits that I have received from the gospel. I have the presence of God travelling with me day and night and the wonderful promise of glory before my eyes. If God is with me and for me, then I can meet setbacks and seeming diversions with joy and with confidence. Life is a zig zag because we need to learn much from God. We have so much sin and self-trust lying in the corners of our heart, that we must always be humbled by God. What about you? If life seems like a zig-zig... it is and that's ok. Just remember that God is with you and for you and will not leave you until he presents you perfectly on the golden shores of the heavenly Canaan.