(no subject)
Parched. Dried up. Barren. Words that make me think of a desert.
Empty. Thirsty. Tired. Words that make me think of a soul that's been led there.
By now we know it is not a question of if we are led to desert places, but when. And we are led there down many roads, through various avenues. Through a dream that never came true. Through a lost hope. Through wasted efforts and failures. Through a broken relationship. Through an unanswered prayer. It's the last place we want to find ourselves. Where loneliness accompanies, solitude isolates, and hope flees. Where confidence and comfort once were, now fear and pain remain.
Whatever the road that led us to this seemingly God-forsaken place, surely it was His hand that brought us.
Maybe we could ask (like Moses did after God called him to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt), "O Lord, why have You brought trouble upon this people?...You have not rescued Your people at all." (Exodus 5:22-23). Or maybe we could even cry with David, the man after God's own heart, "My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'" (Psalm 42:3).
The tears won't come without questions. And thankfully, the pain won't come without reasons. I've been brought into this desert before...so often that it feels like home. But it is not home. Thank God it is not home. He is coming as sure as we are here. For the ones also awaiting rescue, take heart and listen to what He's done for me. Listen to what He will do for you.
We will be able to say (like Paul), "I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses" (2 Corinthians 12:5). How? "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). How will we know to appreciate God's strength unless we are weak? Don't we most enjoy the light after experiencing the darkness?
Being found in the desert also reveals the true condition of our souls: helpless, hopeless, lost. For me, it was the only way I was brought to my knees. Just as I would not seek a doctor unless I knew I was sick, so I would not cry out for a Savior unless I knew I needed a rescue.
If you know the heartache it takes to be sure of your inability to save yourself, or even to make yourself better. If you've wiped the tears of hopelessness and hid the fears of abandonment. Be encouraged, because this is the best time to find your hope in Him. Take heart, "God will surely come to your aid." (Exodus 13:19). "So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10).
"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you...The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 18:13-14).
How long have you been striving to save yourself? How long have you been fighting for your freedom of pain? How anxiously have you been trying to escape loneliness? When all along He has been using these heartaches to strengthen and perfect you, and to reveal Himself to you as the almighty God who saves. And after all is said and done, I believe in the end when you look back and understand, that you wouldn't change a thing.
So now, you need only to be still. Wait for Him because He is letting this weakness lead you to His strength, and sorrow to His joy. He is fighting for you. He is coming.
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1
Empty. Thirsty. Tired. Words that make me think of a soul that's been led there.
By now we know it is not a question of if we are led to desert places, but when. And we are led there down many roads, through various avenues. Through a dream that never came true. Through a lost hope. Through wasted efforts and failures. Through a broken relationship. Through an unanswered prayer. It's the last place we want to find ourselves. Where loneliness accompanies, solitude isolates, and hope flees. Where confidence and comfort once were, now fear and pain remain.
Whatever the road that led us to this seemingly God-forsaken place, surely it was His hand that brought us.
Maybe we could ask (like Moses did after God called him to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt), "O Lord, why have You brought trouble upon this people?...You have not rescued Your people at all." (Exodus 5:22-23). Or maybe we could even cry with David, the man after God's own heart, "My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'" (Psalm 42:3).
The tears won't come without questions. And thankfully, the pain won't come without reasons. I've been brought into this desert before...so often that it feels like home. But it is not home. Thank God it is not home. He is coming as sure as we are here. For the ones also awaiting rescue, take heart and listen to what He's done for me. Listen to what He will do for you.
We will be able to say (like Paul), "I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses" (2 Corinthians 12:5). How? "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). How will we know to appreciate God's strength unless we are weak? Don't we most enjoy the light after experiencing the darkness?
Being found in the desert also reveals the true condition of our souls: helpless, hopeless, lost. For me, it was the only way I was brought to my knees. Just as I would not seek a doctor unless I knew I was sick, so I would not cry out for a Savior unless I knew I needed a rescue.
If you know the heartache it takes to be sure of your inability to save yourself, or even to make yourself better. If you've wiped the tears of hopelessness and hid the fears of abandonment. Be encouraged, because this is the best time to find your hope in Him. Take heart, "God will surely come to your aid." (Exodus 13:19). "So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10).
"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you...The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 18:13-14).
How long have you been striving to save yourself? How long have you been fighting for your freedom of pain? How anxiously have you been trying to escape loneliness? When all along He has been using these heartaches to strengthen and perfect you, and to reveal Himself to you as the almighty God who saves. And after all is said and done, I believe in the end when you look back and understand, that you wouldn't change a thing.
So now, you need only to be still. Wait for Him because He is letting this weakness lead you to His strength, and sorrow to His joy. He is fighting for you. He is coming.
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1