The
wilderness. How many of you have felt like you were in the wilderness? Each
wilderness season looks different for everyone. Are you waiting for a job? A
spouse? A child? A loved one to quit drinking? A friendship to be restored?
A healing? Salvation for a loved one? Is there something you are longing for
deep in your bones that you haven’t seen come to fruition yet?
Paul
had a thorn in his side and pleaded with the Lord to remove it; but He did not.
Rather, the Lord said to him, “my
grace is sufficient for you;
my power is made perfect in weakness.” But, do we believe that? Is His grace
sufficient in all things?
Proverbs
13:12
Hope
deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of
life.
Can
any of you relate to those words? I know I can.
I’ve
recently been in a wilderness season myself. My family encountered many
hardships, including financial difficulties, health challenges, and the loss of
both of my remaining grandparents. I got my heart broken.
Some friendships needed to change drastically. I wrestled with my future and
the plans the Lord has for me. In this midst of all this, I moved in with my
parents; we live together for the first time in over 11 years. For those of you
who live with your adult children and/or parents - you know what I’m talking
about! ;) If I had a $1 for every tear shed in this season, I’d be pretty
rich.
The
wilderness. It is a time of great challenge.
His
grace is sufficient...
Matthew
3:13 - 4:2
Then
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would
have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to
me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to
fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized,
immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to
him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on
him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I
am well pleased.”
Then
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was
hungry.
This
is one of my favorite passages. We see Jesus being baptized. We see the Holy
Spirit coming down on Jesus! (And He has not left!) We see that God the Father
tells Jesus he is pleased with him. The Father is pleased with who Jesus is!
This is before Jesus ever did ministry publicly and the Father is pleased!
These are the greatest blessings we can receive: the presence and power of the
Holy Spirit and praises from our Heavenly Father.
And
then...then we see that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. Jesus
followed him there, he was obedient - even as it led to a place with hardship
and temptation - just like our wilderness experiences do. The wilderness can
feel like the worst place on earth to be, but
if
the Lord leads you there, it is not.
The
Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. 40 years! Can you imagine? 40
years of waiting. Mark Batterson said that waiting often leads to spiritual
confusion and emotional exhaustion. I am willing to bet the Israelites felt
confused and exhausted. I know I have! Have you?! BUT
in
the midst of wandering, God was there.
His
grace is sufficient...
Deuteronomy
2:7
For
the Lord
your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows you're going
through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord
your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”’
It
doesn’t always feel like you’re lacking nothing, right? Sometimes it feels like
you are lacking everything...
Deuteronomy
8:2-4
And
you shall remember the whole way that the Lord
your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble
you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his
commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with
manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you
know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that
comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty
years.
Why
does the Lord bring us to the wilderness? He humbles us. He tests our hearts.
He sees if we will obey him in all things. Being humbled and tested isn’t
easy...in fact, it often hurts a whole lot. But it is for our good. God has
the power - and I believe he takes delight and great care - to refine us and
make us more like Him. But sometimes that can only be done in the hard places.
AND
he is ALWAYS with us in these places! He gave the Israelites manna every day so
that they had something to eat. He didn’t give them a great big storehouse of
it, but he gave it to them every day so they would have to depend on him for it.
The Lord was gracious to them and did not let their clothes wear out or their
shoes. He provided for them each and every step of the way -- even if it wasn’t
the way they wanted him to provide. Amidst the hardships, there are blessings.
So many blessings and so many things to be thankful for! I find that gratitude
begets gratitude...the more blessings I see, the more I continue to see.
His
grace is sufficient...
Hosea
2:14-15
“Therefore,
behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly
to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a
door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the
time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
These
verses make me smile. I love that it says he will allure her...he will pursue
her into the wilderness. For those of you who can relate to the wilderness, it
may seem like such a contradiction! If you love me, why are you taking me into
a place of hardship?!? But it is in the wilderness, that he can speak tenderly
to her! In the wilderness, you are broken enough to listen. And it is in the
wilderness that hope is restored.
I
have to tell you something. The biggest piece of fruit this wilderness season
has produced for me is presence. Over the past nine(ish) months, the Lord has
taught me so much about being in His presence. When I stepped into the
wilderness there were days I just didn’t know what to do. My heart ached.
Circumstances seemed to be anything but favorable. I work for a university and
there are many buildings...so I would go to a random building on my lunch break
and find a bathroom stall. I would turn the lights off and sit on the floor in
the dark begging God to speak to me; demanding that the Holy Spirit show up!
And
you know what? He did! I could tangibly feel his presence in there with me!
And He spoke to me - He gave me hope. He gave me comfort. He gave me the
encouragement I needed to take one more step, to move ahead, to keep trusting
him. Months later, it is my favorite part of the day. Sometimes I even crawl
under the desk in my office, lay down, and wait expectantly on God to show up,
to be near to me, and to restore my hope.
Isaiah
45:3
I
will give you treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you
may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by
name.
Sometimes
the secret places are in the bathroom and under pieces of
furniture...
Where
are the secret places for you? If you don’t have one, I challenge you to find
one. Is there some place that you can go where your defenses are down and you
are less distracted so that your ears are opened? Your heart more receptive to
the presence and voice of our Lord Jesus? Mark Batterson says that a change of
pace and a change of place equals a change of perspective. And sometimes a
change of perspective is exactly what we need.
His
grace is sufficient...
David
Powelson says, The
real adventure takes the path of weakness, struggle, endurance,
patience, small kindnesses done well. The road to excellence in
wisdom is unglamorous. Other people might take better vacations and
have a more thrilling marriage than yours. The path of Jesus calls
forth more grit than thrill. He needed endurance far more than he
needed excitement. His kingdom might not cater to our cravings for
derring-do and thrill-seeking, but "solid joys and lasting treasures
none but Zion’s children know."
God
the father sent his only son Jesus to this earth to show us how to live, to save
us from our sins. He is the only way to heaven and salvation. Salvation of our
souls and of our lives; Jesus is the only one that can bring us true healing and
restoration. He is the only one who can make us lie down in green pastures and
restore our souls. Jesus came to bring life and life to the fullest! But
sometimes that life is not fun or easy; sometimes it is a daily battle.
If
you are trying to make it day by day, waiting and hoping for an answer, a
solution, a peace. I pray that our God who created the mountains and the seas,
who is beyond all time, and able to do anything, who created you and has known
you since before you were born, will be near to you. James tells us to draw
near to God and He will draw near to us. In my trials, my joy has been renewed.
Any joy that I have comes from a dependence on Jesus and being in the presence
of the Holy Spirit.
I
am sure that each of us has a story to tell about wandering in the wilderness.
Sometimes
you can’t see outside if your circumstances. Sometimes you can't see out of
your prison walls. Can you relate? I can. It does NOT change who he is or the
good things he has done!
Remember
what he has done. What has he done? I can personally attest to the following:
watching a friend come to know Jesus. Watching a friend receive the gift of
tongues. Watching someone be healed. Praying for someone to get pregnant.
Hearing a friend talk about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Having food
provided weekly to a ministry I help with. And many more things. And I am sure
that each of you can attest to things the Lord has done! Ways you know he is
alive and active!
Our
circumstances are not how god feels about you. How god feels about you is the
cross!! His
grace is sufficient...
Ephesians
1:3
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
If
you know Jesus, you have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing!
The Lord is not holding out on you. Satan and our circumstances may try to
tell us otherwise, but the Lord tells us the truth! It is my prayer that all of
us will believe this and live our lives accordingly.
