Desert Places

I was reminded of something this morning by Ron Hutchcraft that might help some people that may be struggling, wondering what is going on in their walk with the Lord.  You may feel like you are in a dry and arid place and don’t understand why.  I think that we all want to live on the mountaintop, so to speak, where everything seems to go relatively smooth, where the Lord seems to be the closest to us and we feel content and fulfilled; but in order to really know what our heart is really like, as far as our intentions and our motives, we may end up in the valley or what you might call a dessert place.

Think about the Israelites, when they were brought out of Egypt, I think it would have taken them a very short time to get to the Promised Land, but it took forty years and many of them didn’t even make it.  It is important, when we get into what I would call a wilderness place in our walk with the Lord, that we dig in and let God be God, knowing that He is working all things out together for our good just like He did for the Israelites.  If God took them the short route, the Philistines would have fought against them and many of them would have died and many would have turned back.  God knew the thoughts and intents of their hearts and He also knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts and He would reveal it to them as time went on.

There is a song that the Brooklyn Tabernacle sings; I think it is called, “Sometimes it takes a Mountain.”  Some of the words go like this, “Sometimes it takes a mountain, sometimes a troubled sea, sometimes it takes a desert to get a hold of me, your love is so much stronger than whatever troubles me, sometimes it takes a mountain to get a hold on me.”  It is a great song, check it out and let it minister to your heart.

Just like the Israelites, God may take us through some desert places so that we can see the real person that we are and what is really in our hearts.  When we come under pressure we start seeing the flaws and cracks in our armor, so to speak.  We may react like many of the Israelites did with fear, whining, complaining and blaming others for our situation.  We may throw a pity party, feeling like woe is me.  Sometimes we act so proud and arrogant, maybe even pharisaical, and God is trying to get our attention so that we will repent.  I have been there, to my shame, and it is a terrible place to be and without God’s intervention we may not even realize it.       

Until we know what our condition is before the Lord, we will never repent and ask the Lord to forgive us and we will stagnate and be very ineffective for the Lord and we will end up losing our joy.  When this happens remember the Lord said He would never leave us or forsake us.  Weeping may endure for a time but joy will come, if you do the right thing.

I hope this Tidbit was an encouragement to everyone that reads it.  Something to think about and I hope this has helped.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you all have a super day!!