Revisiting the Dip

Pastor Joshua Finley preached an amazing sermon this week and while I listened to it I saw the Dip Principals come to life even more.

When we look at the passage from Exodus 16:1-20 we see that God lead them into the Desert of Sin. They left Elim, which means Oasis, and haded right into the Desert of Sin, doesn't sound to fun, on their way to Mount Sinai.

This wasn't their first dip, think about it. They get released from captivity, sounds like a pretty big high, than they come to the Red Sea and they have Pharaoh breathing down their necks, AKA The DIP, than the Red Sea opens up, pretty big high. They went from the high to Marah, where the water was bitter, God turned it to sweet water than led them Elim where there were seventy palm trees and they camped there near the water.

Principal #1: You will face more than one dip. (Check out John 16:33 for encouragement)

Why would God lead them into the desert? I know this ruffles some misconceptions of God and Christianity. Many times we preach salvations messages that sound like Cruise Liner commercials.

Deuteronomy 8:1-5 shines a light on this idea. Verse Two says, that God lead them into the desert to humble them and test them in order to know what was in their heart. I personally don't think God was doing that to find out what they were made of, I believe He took them into the desert so they can see what was in their heart. This is why our Dip has to become a Dip of Direction. We gain insights in the dip.

While they were in the Desert of Sin God gave them Manna, it says in Deuteronomy 8:3 that God did it to teach them, "that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." Why was God teaching them this? Because they were about to go into a land flowing with milking and honey, a la

nd with streams and pools of water, a land with wheat, barley, vines and fig trees, etc... It is very easy once you get to your promise that you can become consumed with the fruit of the promise and not God.

It could be that new promotion, the baby that you have prayed for, for 10 years, it could be a platform in ministry. God wants to work in you the principals of dependency on Him before He takes you to the next level.

Don't avoid the dips, they are for your benefit. Verse 5 says, "Know in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you." Your dip weeds out what will be destructive to your destiny.

Principal #2: God is more interested in your growth than you comfort.

To make a long story short they come to Mount Sinai. This is still apart of their dip, why? Because at this point God was building infra

structure for them, He was showing them a new way of living. They had lived as slaves and now were free and they needed direction. They needed systems.

Principal #3: what got you here, won't get you there and sustain you in your promise.

Fast forward to the Promise land. They are now at the verge of their promise. God has been working in them through out all the dips to develop trust in Him. Now it is time to see if they have learned the lesson. The tension builds as we read the story, we lean in to hear the courage and the trust in God and they shrink back in fear. They spend the next forty years dying off so the next generation can have the promise that was theirs. When we look back at their other dips this was the same problem, lack of trusting God. Instead of using those other dips as lessons to grow in trust, using the dip as direction, they continued in the habits of despair. God was calling them to do something dangerous, to do something that was going to be a high risk. We see, that in order to get out of your dip you will need to not only know that dips happen, that God is growing you, that your old habits don't work but you will need to trust Him as He leads you.

Principal #4: Trust is necessary to get out of your dip.

James says, "In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead."

When we get in the dip it is easy to fall into despair, the loss of a job, the pain of losing someone you love, the death of a dream, but we must fight to hold onto faith. Hold onto the promise God has given you, given your family, the dream God has placed in your heart. I don't just think James is just saying if you have faith you will go out and feed the hungry or go on missions trips but I believe He is saying that Faith is really trust and when you trust God, where He says go, you will go. Where God says stop you will stop. This is something that we have to fight for. Trust doesn't come naturally.

Principal #5: You must Fight For Faith.

Where ever you are, heading into a dip, in the dip, coming out of the dip, or standing in your promise I want to challenge with the same thing God was working in the Israelites: To be fully Dependant on God. It will get you out of the dip as well as lead you into the next dip that you need to grow you.