With the Believer, everything is a test. How will we act? How will we react?
Today, if you want something, you can usually find a way to get it.
New car? Head to the dealer.
Don't have the money? Head to the bank for a loan.
Cheeseburger? McDonalds.
(sorry, I am six months pregnant and that just came to my mind...)
Clothes? Drive to the mall in your new car while you eat your cheeseburger.
Get my drift?
The want it/get it mentality we Americans are used to makes it tough for God to speak to us. We usually have little reason to trust Him when we are placing matters into our own hands in every situation.
It's so easy to say we trust God, yet we take care of a matter ourselves.
We have mostly everything we want.
Everything looks and feels good.
Fresh food sitting in your cold refrigerator, half of it will go to waste because you'll be eating out so often.
Clothes packed away in tubs because your closet can't hold them all.
Painted nails and new hair.
New lawn mower, way cooler than your neighbors of course.
Getting paid over time. Vacations. Endless shopping. Usually online so you don't have to leave your house.
Hunting. Fishing. Golf. And all the stuff that goes with it.
Air conditioning in your car.
We have it easy, people.
I opened up to this scripture randomly, and several things jumped out at me...
let's first read the text.
All the Commandments which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers.
And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His Commandments, or no.
And He humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with Manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that He might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the Mouth of the Lord does man live.
Deuteronomy 8:1-3
Well, that's convicting.
I thought of times I felt I was in the wilderness, so to speak. I'm almost 28, so obviously I wasn't wandering for no forty years. I wasn't without food, a home or clothes.
But, I thought of times I felt I was left alone, even forgotten.
It's in the wilderness that God wants to humble you. Prove you. To know what is really in your heart. To know if you will really obey Him. To let you learn that it isn't by bread alone that you will survive, but by every single word from the very Mouth of God.
Have you ever been abandoned by someone? Your father? Your mother? Your spouse?
That's a wilderness.
Have you ever been so low on funds that you can't pay rent, can't put gas in the car and can't feed your little children staring up at you?
That's a wilderness.
Have you ever been molested, perhaps continually by someone who you thought was there to keep you safe?
That's a wilderness.
Have you ever been betrayed by your closest friend?
Have you ever felt so down on yourself that you sat alone at your house with a gun held to your head?
Have you ever messed up as a parent and years later, your adult child still doesn't want a relationship with you?
Have you ever felt condemnation for sin that you've asked for forgiveness for, but you just don't understand how God really could forgive and forget such a dirty lifestyle? Or maybe a sneaky lie?
Have you ever woken up after being married for 25 years only to find out that day; that your spouse has been living a double life?
Has your baby ever been diagnosed with an incurable disease?
Have you ever had to lose a baby in your stomach in which you've never met?
Has someone ever attacked your looks? Made you feel even worse about yourself?
Have you been told by the doctor that "you'll never be able to have your own children?"
Have you ever lost your home in a fire?
Have you ever sat on the side of the road, holding a cardboard sign in the middle of a winter storm, wandering if anyone would believe your story and just offer you enough money to get you a single warm meal?
Those are all wildernesses.
Some ask, why do bad things happen? If God were love and if He loved me, then why are these things happening?
I don't have the answer.
I do have this scripture though, which tells me, that through trials, He strengthens His children. Through the fire, He turns us into gold. Through persecution, He is building us up to be mighty warriors of the Cross. Through the wilderness, He is learning what is in our hearts...
What are you facing right now?
Is your future up in the air? Not sure which road to take?
Let me ask you this, are you being obedient to what God asked of you? Often times we want to point our fingers at others or even at God if "His will" isn't quickly revealed to us, but God is so much bigger than that. He is personal. He will speak to you in a still, small voice. And not usually when we are expecting it.
Just a few nights ago, Raylea and I lay in bed as we do every night during our reading and prayer time. She said, "Mom, why can't I hear God talk to me?" I said, "what do you mean?" She looked up towards the ceiling and said, "God, how much do you love me?" Then she turned her head and looked back at me and said, "See? He didn't say anything."
She tends to ask me the hardest, most deep questions when my brain is the most tired.
I thought for a moment and then explained to her that God doesn't usually speak to us in a voice like what her and I use, but if we are still and listen, we can hear His voice in our heart. So, she sat there and was quiet and said, "Okay, He told me He loves me bigger than the world."
Same goes for me. And you. God will speak to you. Sometimes He wants to do more than just speak to you during the wilderness. He wants to get to know you. The question is, do you mind letting Him?
God is about to do something amazing in your life. Sure, you may be right smack dab in the middle of the hardest storm of your life... but remember, it get's the darkest before the dawn.
It's easier said then done, it's much easier to say we trust God and will obey Him until our back is up against a wall. Then a few years later, it's up against a different wall. But, I want to encourage (that means to cheer, uplift, and fire up!) you today, whoever may be reading this, that things may look bad, they actually look awful, but if you place your hopes and dreams along with your trials and pains into the hands of God, He will lead you out of the wilderness when it is best for you.
He's humbling you. He's proving you. He's learning what's in your heart and if you will truly obey Him.
Keep your head held high, the King of Kings is turning you into gold.
Grant stood in Oklahoma sometime ago with his Uncle Zane, as he told him about how he built with this old weathered tin as a boy. Grant took a big sheet of it home to make him something special. Just recently, Grant made a cross and a crown of thorns out of it. He wrote on the back a special message to his Uncle Zane, explaining how while he was a young boy building a chicken coop with this tin, God was building Zane up to become a mighty builder for His Kingdom one day.
So, as you see, perhaps his Uncle Zane felt as a young boy he would never amount to much or be used greatly as he built with that tin. But, today, he's in the middle of building a larger church because they've outgrown the one they are in! (I also was saved and baptized at his Uncle Zane's church.)
Don't let your stinkin' thinkin' or the naysayers you may have surrounded yourself by, persuade you any longer that you won't be used by God. It's hard to see it while you're in the wilderness, but he's making you into exactly what He wants and needs you to be. Don't question Him.
