The View from the Summit - Part Six

The Land Between
Jeff Manion

The space in our lives that we most resent is the very soil where God wants to produce the fruit we most desperately need.

Leaders move people from Here to There. But what happens between Here and There?

The Israelites were moving from Egypt to the Promised Land, but there was a lot of time “between.” They were out of slavery, but not yet in the promised land.

The land between is fertile soil. It is fertile for:

A. Complaint. Complaining about condition vs complaining against God, which is the equivalent of cosmic treason.

B. Meltdown. “The burden is too heavy; I can’t carry it anymore.” All spiritual leaders experience this. In Numbers 11 we see the honest prayer of a great spiritual leader. Moses cries out to God:

"Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me? Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers'? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, 'Give us meat that we may eat! I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness."

C. God’s Provision. God provides leaders to team up with us. In Number 11:16, God hears Moses plea and provides him some help:

The LORD therefore said to Moses, "Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.”

D. God’s Discipline. Discipline is inflicting pain for a redemptive purpose. The Israelites had been complaining about manna and wanted some meat to eat. So God answered their prayer.

It’s actually humorous because He tells them that they will have meat, meat, and more meat. So much meat that they will become sick of it! He actually uses this to teach the Israelites a lesson.

“Therefore the LORD will give you meat and you shall eat. 'You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'"

E. Transformational Growth. The land between was intended to transform the people of Israel and get them ready for the Promised Land. They needed to learn to trust God, to pray, and to depend on Him.

Transformational growth doesn’t happen automatically. It is here that we learn about the sufficiency of God.

"The LORD said to Moses, "Is the LORD'S power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not." "

When we are in between Here and There, our heart is in danger. We have left the known and have not yet arrived in the promised land. In the land between, a choice has to be made: Growth or Death.

Complaint shows up without an invitation and resists eviction. We deter complaint by inviting trust in. Trust evicts complaint.

Are you in between? Are you in a place that is uncomfortable?

The space in my life that I most resent is the very soil where God wants to produce the fruit I most desperately need.