Finding Out Who We Really Are
The Hebrew people entered the desert feeling themselves to be a united and strong people. You’d think that perhaps they would have experienced greater strength as they continued, but not so: They experienced fragmentation and weariness; they experienced divisions among their people. They were not the people they thought they were. The Jewish exodus is a rather perfect metaphor for spirituality. When all of our idols are taken away, all our securities and defense mechanisms, we find out who we really are. We’re so little, so poor, so empty—and a shock to ourselves. But the biblical God takes away our shame and we are eventually able to present ourselves in an honest and humble form. Then we find out who we really are and who God is for us—and it is more than enough. That is how an enslaved people became God’s people, Israel.
—Richard Rohr, Yes, And…: Daily Meditations
The Hebrew people entered the desert thinking they were strong and united, but the wilderness revealed something different—weariness, division, and weakness they hadn’t seen before. Richard Rohr reminds us that this is often the way of spirituality. When God strips away our idols, securities, and defenses, we discover just how small and empty we really are.
Yet in that vulnerable place, God meets us. He takes away our shame and teaches us to stand before Him honestly and humbly. There, we begin to see who we truly are—and who He is for us. And in Him, we find that He is more than enough. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics