How God Carries His People

When Paul and Barnabas began their first missionary journey and reached Antioch in Pisidia, the Apostle Paul gave his first major speech—at least, as far as we are told in the word of God. Since he spoke in the synagogue there, his audience consisted primarily of Jews, although there were also numerous proselytes from the Gentiles present.

God Nurtures

In the first part of his address, the apostle paints a picture of Israel's early history in just a few lines before his Jewish listeners. In doing so, he draws attention to the sovereign grace of God that was bestowed on their fathers from the beginning. God had chosen them, exalted the people in the land of Egypt, and then brought them out from there with His arm lifted up. Yes, and then follows a sentence that we are focusing on today:
“And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.” (Acts 13:18)

That is an interesting statement.

Paul does not talk about why God led them into the desert. Stephen, on the other hand, points this out in his defense speech, which is more aimed at Israel's disobedience (Acts 7:39-43). But here, the focus is on the grace of God who wanted to bless this nation: God cared for them throughout the years of their wandering in the desert. It is an allusion to Deuteronomy 1:31:
“And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.”

“Bearing” does not mean that God merely tolerated them with all their weaknesses and sins. It expresses in Deuteronomy 1 the idea of nursing, of carrying as a mother carries a child.

God cared for them in the desert.

What wonderful grace from God to Israel! For forty years God tenderly cared for her, as a father cares for and supports his son. He fed His people with manna and sustained them so that they did not perish in the wilderness. That it was their unbelief that extended the desert journey to forty years is not the point here. God preserved them despite their unbelief.

How much we can learn from this! As we look back on our journey, should we not also praise the goodness and faithfulness with which our God has borne us, just as a man bears his son? How tenderly and yet how firmly the father may hold his son when it is a matter of bringing him past all obstacles to the “place” where the desert journey ends! The fact that God deals with us in this way—throughout the journey we take—is extremely comforting and leads us to worship our God and Father.
Three times in the Old Testament, God is compared to a man who does something specific to his son. In addition to the first example just considered, it is even God Himself who uses this image of Himself and His actions.

God Chastens

However, many today want a "grace" that demands nothing and corrects nothing. But the Bible gives us a complete picture. After the bearing of the son in chapter 1 comes the chastening of the son in chapter 8 of Deuteronomy. After reminding His people of His provision, He declares:
“Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.” (Deuteronomy 8:4-5)

When God chastises us—and He does so with every son He receives—He does so in the manner that a man does with his son.
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Hebrews 12:6-7)

By chastisement, we must not primarily understand unbridled wrath, but rather everything that contributes to holy education, correction, and child-training. God is not a negligent parent; He disciplines His own.

The Holy Spirit warns us in Hebrews 12 of two wrong behaviors in times of trial. On the one hand, we are in danger of taking the Lord's chastisements lightly, as if they had nothing special to say to us.