The Tension Between Doubt and Faith, Part VI

"With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders...Yet the Lord says, 'During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet'." - Deuteronomy 29:3, 5

Great trials, signs and wonders - there's a mixed bag of doubt and faith if ever I saw one, covering both extremes and everything in between!

I used to think this passage was so amazing, to have shoes that never wore out; what a miracle!  As a young adult I thought, how boring to wear the same pair of shoes for forty years!  These days I think I'd complain about having to wander in the wilderness for forty years and not even see the miracle of the shoes not wearing out.  What a single-storied mindset!

There are multiple stories and perspectives to each challenge, and I begin to realise that maybe it's not an "either... or" situation.  We are not necessarily experiencing times of doubt OR times of great faith.  Maybe they are fellow companions on the journey. It's "both... and". If this is the case, then my prayer is that while we are wandering in the wilderness, doubting, we would still be aware of the wonder of our shoes not wearing out.  May the small miracles (that I suspect are present every day) strengthen our faith and carry us through the wilderness.  And let us hope that our wilderness wanderings don't last forty years!