God transforms us in the wilderness as we journey from being in bondage to being the people of the promised land. But the transformation comes with pain and parts of the journey are filled with fear and anxious longing. Out of that fear and pain we look backward, longing for the certainty we had even though we were not free or fully yet the people of God.

It feels like our national journey towards a more perfect union parallels much of the experience of the Hebrew tribes as they were formed into the Nation of Israel in wilderness time. I find hope in that. There is a arc to our journey, an end for us that God is making as our history is transformed and understood in a new way.