Life can be so disappointing!  So hard!

As the Israelites left Egypt to go to the Promised Land, did they think their hardships were over?  If so, can you imagine how disheartened they must have felt when  the Red Sea was in front of them and the Egyptians were hot on their trail? And how did they feel when their stomachs started rumbling from hunger and their mouths were dry and parched from lack of water?  Life challenged them and most of them failed the challenge.

Why? How is that God was not well-pleased with most of them?

1. Their expectations were faulty. They expected it to be easy.  They didn’t realize their struggles were common to all men.
2. Their theology was faulty. They didn’t think God was faithful. They didn’t see His daily protection and provision.
3. Their commitment was faulty. They grumbled and complained against God. They wanted to go back to Egypt.

If you’re in a hard time right now, let me encourage you to:

1.  Adjust your expectations.  God never promised you an easy life here in this broken world.  But He has promised to be with you every step of the way.  He will make a way for you to endure this hardship.
2. Check your theology.  God is always good and always faithful.  Do you believe that? Can you cling to that with all your heart?
3. Examine your commitment. Do you want to follow God even if it means hardship and heartbreak? Fully give yourself to Him, heartbreak and all.  He can handle it!

Caleb was not like the other Israelites.  He was different.

God says of Caleb, “But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land…” Numbers 14:24

1 Corinthians 10