Isn’t it the story of our lives? We see a land of promise laid out before us. We hear the voice of a God delighted to be giving us all we have ever desired. There we are wandering in desert, sand in our shoes, backs burdened under the weight of all we have been through … and up ahead a promise of home and hope, of sweetness and nourishment. All there laid out on a map for us: a choice—desert or garden. And we, we choose the familiar desert and leave the fruitful future of our dreams to rot on the vine.
Why? Why do we do it? Maybe we think goodness is too good to be true. Maybe we have an inkling that we’ll have to fight for our dreams. Or maybe our glimpse of glory leaves us feeling like grasshoppers, unfit to live in paradise.
Isn’t it the story of our lives? We are too ready to believe the worst and so careful not to be conned. And doesn’t it frustrate the hell out of the generous God offering us everything? Wouldn’t it be worth the risk to believe the best for once? To take God’s dreams at face value and say just this once “Yes. Yes, please!”