Is it really a bad hand?

Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. (Psalm 63:3-6)

When you aren't 'dealt' the hand you expected, how do you respond? To be honest with you, I don't always immediately praise God for the 'lousy hand'. Sometimes I gripe about it, chafe against it, and get a little too 'me' focused right there in the midst of the 'hardship' I am enduring. "Me" comes first and "me" is not feeling like it is getting the 'best shake' in the moment, so "me" begins to resist and complain. Been there? Got the shirt and wore it out? Good! Sometimes our life is even turned upside down by the 'hand' we receive - what was up is now down, and the ground underneath us is quite shaky. When we 'receive' that 'hand', we might just forget who walks with us in the midst of the upheaval that seems to be closing in on us. God may have allowed the 'hand' to show us just how much he loves us - that he isn't about to abandon us to our own devices in the midst of uncertainty that surrounds us. That 'infertile' ground we stand upon is just about to become some of the most 'fertile' ground we experience, but first, there must be some work!

David experienced more than one 'lousy hand' in life, but he walked gracefully through them. Did he ever complain or gripe about the things he faced? Yes, he did! Although that gives us a little encouragement that we are not much different, there is one thing we see about David's life that shows us how he made it through when the 'cards' just didn't seem to be 'good'. Study his life long enough and you will realize he had a deep and lasting relationship with his Lord. He didn't just go to church on Sunday and live like he wanted the rest of the week. He didn't just turn to God when the times got tough - he lived with God in the leanest of times as much as he did in the times of great plenty. He did press in during the lean times, so maybe that is a good lesson for us to see. Lean times are inevitable - hardship cannot be avoided forever. Being a Christian might mean we have 'hardship insurance' - we have a place to turn when the 'hand' we are dealt doesn't provide the most 'optimum' of circumstances. We don't have this 'insurance' just because we say "yes" to Jesus - we have it because we allow him to cultivate his presence and peace within.

Where does this cultivation occur? Usually in the driest and most barren of places. It is in those places that we learn to value our relationship with Jesus - we find out how much his love and grace mean to us. How? The things we counted on in this world seem to bring little satisfaction or peace into our lives - but we find his presence restores our soul, invigorates our spirit, and soothes our confused mind. We want all the good stuff that comes from serving Jesus, like the best 'hand' in cards. When we get the 'lousy hand' in life, do we complain or embrace it, give it into his hands, and let him show us how to 'play it'? That is what David did when he lifted his voice time after time again in praise and worship. In the midst of the 'band hands' of life, he lifted his spirit and voice in praise. Why? It showed how much he valued God taking the 'hand' and 'playing it' as only he could! Praise and worship may not come naturally when we 'get the band hand', but if we have cultivated that love relationship with Jesus in the 'good hand' times, we are likely to carry that into the 'bad hand' times, as well. Just sayin!

The most 'unfertile' ground

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! (Psalm 63:1-3)

Growing up in the Arizona desert, I have walked many a dry wash, climbed over huge boulders, and been pricked by more than my share of cacti. It is dry, filled with all kinds of dangers, and barely livable in many parts. Water is not easily found, nor is it readily available if you were to drill for it. Many places have to truck it in right to this day. You can be so 'dry' in the desert that you actually crave water. It doesn't seem all that fertile, does it? What seems like the most 'unfertile' ground in our lives may actually be the place where the greatest growth occurs. Something you may not realize is how many 'distractions' are removed when you are in that desert place in life. It is as though the only thing you begin to focus on is Jesus, because all the other stuff you had been distracted by just doesn't matter when you get good and thirsty for his presence. I think of the dry places as 'fertile ground' - they have been the times when God does some of the greatest work IN me because I have drawn closer to him without all those distractions pulling me away from him. Maybe we don't actually want to go into these dry places, but if we find ourselves in the midst of the 'desert' spiritually or emotionally, we might just want to spend some time getting to know him just a bit deeper right there.

David was born into a family of sheep herders. He was to follow along in the footsteps of his father, Salmon. He was not raised to be a king, but he was raised in a home of faith - he knew his God and he served him even from the earliest of his days. He learned much in his early life, tending the sheep out on the lonely grazing lands, moving them from one grazing place to another while protecting them from all manner of evil that sought to end their lives. Even after being anointed as king, he didn't immediately 'live the good life' in the court of the king. We find him hiding out in caves, scaling peaks he could use as a vantage point in escaping from the armies of Saul. His life wasn't 'worry-free', but it was 'rich' because wherever he went, his God was right there with him. Can you say the same? Do you find the dry places in your life to be the most 'fertile'? It may not feel like it when you are wandering around in that 'wilderness', but when you finally come into those places where 'barrenness' seems to be replaced by 'beauty' and 'peace', you realize how much was accomplished in the desert. 

One of the most profound things about the desert is the thirst you develop while there. Maybe this is why God allows for us to experience those 'dry places' in life - so we will develop a hunger and thirst for righteousness! Remember, what seems like the most 'unfertile' ground may actually be the most fertile place you experience. Just sayin!

Forget all that!

I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.  (Isaiah 43:16, 18-19 NLT)

Many times God is preparing a way, not through the overwhelming waters, but through the wilderness - the driest and most challenging of journeys we may face, but one with preparations for our safety all along the way. The word of promise to us is simply: Forget all that - it is nothing compared to what I am going to do! 

I don't think many of us have seen waters back up on themselves as though an invisible dam halted their powerful flow, nor do I think many of us have stopped to consider just how God was able to dry up that riverbed floor so quickly! We might have seen just how quickly we could stop our vehicles in the blink of an eye when we were about to become very intimate with the bumper in front of us that just happened to get a little too distracted in their driving! We have "just missed" the deer, jackrabbit, or wayward squirrel who had to get to some point on the other side of the road. In that instant, panic rose and settled, as we breathed a sigh of relief for avoiding the collision or allowing some creature to live another day. We might even have uttered a quick prayer of thanks, but do we stop to consider those moments as "Red Sea" moments - those times when God just does something amazing to protect us? In those moments, his protection was evident, but there are times when his protection and provision are less than evident - in fact, all we see is the barrenness ahead and we begin to worry!

There are some today who face things ahead that appear as nothing more than "dry wasteland". Relationships which you counted on are being torn from you and your life seems to be turned upside down. There seems to be nothing but dryness and neglect. Others face what has become a very dry and somewhat non-productive spiritual walk - lost to the worries and cares of this world, too frustrated by life's challenges to try any longer to find God's answers. To each of you the reminder of God's words above need to begin to take root: "Forget all that!" Forget what was, it will not be again - because God has something different he is doing in and through you. Forget what might have been, it never was and God isn't about to let what "used to be" to govern what "can be" through his power and grace today. Forget who you were then, you aren't going to be that person again because God's plan isn't that you "were", but that you "are".

"It is nothing compared to what I am going to do!" You whose relationship has become a tangled mess of goofed up missteps - what was is nothing compared to what is about to be - for you serve the God of restoration! You whose physical bodies have been ravaged by disease so awful - what was is nothing compared to what God will do in his redemptive power! You whose minds are so laden down with worries you should not be bearing - what was is nothing compared to what God is doing today and what he promises to do into eternity when we keep our focus clearly on him.

Lay hold of that one command and this one promise today: 

    - Forget all that!

    - It is nothing compared to what I am going to do!

Focus on this main promise:

    - I am about to do something new!

God isn't finished just because you might not see more than wilderness and barrenness ahead. He has just begun! Just sayin!

Waylaid between here and there

Finally - in the end, after considerable delay, at last.  We probably all have those "finally" moments in life, when we have been dinking around with something for so long in our lives and then as if we either could not stand it any longer, or the urge was too great, we proceed in the course we have been avoiding.  Avoidance is a tremendous deterrent to actually getting a matter accomplished!  We all have those deterrents, don't we?  The matter was too daunting for the energies we had left, so we rest a while.  The matter was too hard for the intelligence we possessed, so we "research" it for a while.  The matter made us just a little too uncomfortable, so we wait until we can have a change of heart toward it. When we reach the point of "finally", there is usually something good which will come from taking the first steps toward obedient action and if we are careful, maybe even a learning or two from the "delay".

Finally we did as the Eternal had commanded me, and we headed back...

...the Eternal your God, has blessed you in every way. He’s watched over you as you’ve journeyed through this vast wilderness. Throughout these 40 years, the Eternal your God has been with you, and you haven’t lacked a thing. (Deuteronomy 2:1,7 VOICE)

Israel had spent 40 years on a journey which would have taken about 11 days if there hadn't been a whole lot of "delayed progress" on their part!  An 11 day journey lasting 40 days is one thing, but 40 years?  Yep!  I will be the first to admit, there have been simple decisions I should have made much earlier, but because of my stubbornness or lack of commitment to whatever it was which I needed to take action on, the "journey" took a whole lot longer than it needed to!  I may not have taken 40 years, but I am but one heart and mind. Imagine what it was like for Moses trying to wrangle about 600,000 adult males, not to mention their wives and children!  That is a whole lot of minds and hearts to get moving in the same direction!

There is something about the point between the Red Sea and the time Israel is beginning to move into the Promised Land of Canaan which I think we can all benefit from seeing today. In the midst of the 40 year journey, God was at work!  Even in our most stubborn and resistive times in life, God is at work - not deterred by our stubbornness, nor offset by our predetermined will to do our own thing.  Let's examine a couple of things from the excerpts of our passage in Deuteronomy this morning:

- The "finally" moment involves them coming to a place of decision.  All our lives need on occasion is for us to come to a place of decision - to actually have our mindset fixed on one course of action.  Sometimes the lack of progress we make is not because we don't have options - we just don't pursue any of them!  We are in the middle of the options, digging ourselves a rut because we just keep circling all the options like horses pacing in the corral.  A rut is simply a path leading to nowhere!  It forms because of frequent travel - not because of inactivity.  We see that Israel wasn't "doing nothing" while they took this 40 year journey, they were just stuck in the middle of doing this or that, but not really settled on one course of action!  So, the rut got bigger and the distance between Egypt and Canaan got a little further away because they now had to also climb out of the rut!

- The "finally" moment didn't mean they had not seen anything accomplished in their wanderings.  In fact, when we read a little further, we see they came to a place of one mind and heart.  Imagine that!  When they "finally" came to an end of determining their own course, they aligned with God's course, and they began to make progress.  I imagine it should come as no surprise to any of us that this would actually be the result of repentance.  When we finally realize our course of inactivity, or misled activity, is just not getting us to the destination we so desperately desire, we often realize just how close we were to our final destination!  The "finally" moments in life are not without struggle - but within the struggle, a whole lot of "heart alignment" must occur.  We have to decide who it is we will listen to, serve with all our heart, and align our thoughts with.  In those moments between Egypt and Canaan, Israel had a whole lot of alignment moments.

- In between the time they began their journey and the "finally" moment, God was there all the time.  He didn't abandon them to their own devices, although it might have seemed that way to an outsider looking in. Here was this huge "herd" of people on the move from bondage in Egypt to establishing themselves as a people under the new "rule" of God himself.  Yet, somewhere between here and there, they got a little waylaid.  When one is waylaid, they are actually subject to an attack they may not have prepared for.  Imagine that - - - to get one's freedom and then be almost instantly "waylaid" by that freedom!  Has that ever happened to anyone else besides me?  I get so caught up in the enjoyment of my new found freedom that I miss the fact I am still on a course toward something else!  Israel forgot their mission because when it finally dawned on them what might be involved in seeing the fruition of that mission, they staggered in their belief.  They got all excited about their freedom, but then petered out when it came to pushing back a few obstacles in their path on the way to the blessing God had for them!

God is with us even when we are busy digging a few ruts! We may get a little distracted by the things which shouldn't really distract us, but God doesn't abandon us to our distractions! He keeps us, works with us, continues to provide for us, and when we are ready, he is there to help us take the first steps out of our ruts.  Just sayin!

There is not where

If you have ever studied the life of Moses, you will find he was a man who was not afraid to speak his mind with God.  He was "real" with God - sharing both his frustrations and his exultation.  He never minced his words - he shot straight from the hip. I think God probably honored this kind of openness and transparency and blessed his leadership of Israel as a result.  There are times when we get so frustrated with the length of time it takes to get ourselves from step "A" to step "B" in this process we call "restoration" or "transformation", right?  I wonder what God would do if we were so totally humble and honest with him like Moses was?  Maybe we would come to see the delay is really a part of the process - it is a time when we purify our emotions, see our thought patterns change, and get rid of a whole lot of dead wood in our lives.  I kind of like the words below, because they express the frustration of Moses' heart.  The people have done nothing but complain about the delay in realizing their goal; the wilderness journey hasn't been a piece of cake; and the passage of time seems to make the waiting unbearable.  Sound like any set of circumstances you might be facing in your own life?

Moses said to God, “Look, you tell me, ‘Lead this people,’ but you don’t let me know whom you’re going to send with me. You tell me, ‘I know you well and you are special to me.’ If I am so special to you, let me in on your plans. That way, I will continue being special to you. Don’t forget, this is your people, your responsibility.”  God said, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.”  Moses said, “If your presence doesn’t take the lead here, call this trip off right now. How else will it be known that you’re with me in this, with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not? How else will we know that we’re special, I and your people, among all other people on this planet Earth?”  God said to Moses: “All right. Just as you say; this also I will do, for I know you well and you are special to me. I know you by name.”   (Exodus 33:14-17 MSG)

There are times when delays are really opportunities for us to make the transitions in life that God hopes we will make.  The amount of time it takes to make these transitions often depends directly on our response to the things God asks of us.  Moses was straight with God - it was a struggle to lead these people.  He felt like he was going it alone at times.  I think we aren't so different.  God calls us to go somewhere we have never been before in our spiritual lives and we complain we have never been there before.  Along the way to "there" we complain about the "where".  Where we have been, where we are now, and where we will ever end up - all concern us somehow. If God only took us down the "familiar" and "comfortable" path, do you think we'd ever leave Egypt behind?  Egypt represents the old way of living - in slavery, bondage, and despair.  The promised land represented the new way of living - freedom, delight, and hope.  Between "there" and "where", the journey is riddled with a whole lot of "why here" kind of moments!

One thing I have come to appreciate in the place between "there" and "where" is the importance of the moment.  Nothing in the moment seems like it is "perfect", but it is "purposeful".  We unfortunately want the perfect - so we complain about the process.  Some of us get stuck right in the middle for a long, long time - why?  It is simply because we are waiting for the "conditions" to change where we find ourselves right now.  We don't want to step out to see them change, we just want them to change in the midst of the journey right here and now.  Rarely do the conditions change in the midst of the journey - it is the journey which brings the change!  To get the most out of "transition" one has to actually step into the transition!

For most of us, the time factor is the biggest issue - we don't want it to take a whole lot of time for the transition to happen.  It is okay for God to ask for us to make a transition, but does it have to take forever?  Well, we can run ahead of God, but that doesn't usually work out to well for us, does it?  We think we can "arrive" on our own, doing things our way because the timing is too slow for us.  In the end, we end up with a whole lot of do-overs and a lot of time wasted!  So, rushing transition is not the recommendation here.  Yet, remaining in the place of transition for way too long just because we are not willing to move is also just as dangerous.  Both require our immediate attention and refocus.  God put the Israelites (and Moses) in the midst of the wilderness - to rush ahead or lag behind was just not right.  Moses expressed his frustration a time or two with God - both for the delay and the seemingly unwillingness of the people to "get it right" so they could move on!

Ever find yourself smack dab in the middle of being in the "moment", but having a pretty "crappy" attitude?  Well, I have!  To be truthful, I have been a complainer a time or two - complaining to God because the wait is too long, the journey disturbing my "comfort" just a little too much.  In those moments, I have wondered if God might just have abandoned me in the midst of my wilderness.  It is a hard thing to learn the purpose of the process.  A whole lot of things take place in the place between "there" and "where".  One of the most prominent is the change of heart.  I think this is what God is after in the process - the main objective he has for the wilderness is our heart!  Change only happens when the heart is affected.  Try changing if your heart isn't in it. You just don't have the same motivation, do you?  So, in the midst of the wilderness, the focus is our heart.  One of the best ways to know if the heart is changing is by evaluating how "real" we are with God in the midst of the trial.  As we drop the facades, he is able to communicate his plan.  

It may seem a little over-simplified to say the delay could be our willingness to be changed - to get real with God - but I don't think I am far off.  It has proven to be the case in my life time and time again.  If we learn to complain less about the process and open up to God in the reality of the moment, we might just find our journey made a little shorter.  Just sayin!

Another wilderness journey?

Have you ever really considered the lessons you have learned because of the experience of another?  You know, the stuff you just never really explore because you see how the exploration of another left them kind of unfulfilled, reasonably sane, but just so not excited about their experience?  Well, I think this is all part of God's plan for us in life - to learn from the experiences of those who go before us.  The first astronaut into space paved the way for all the others who came behind.  The first one to fly above the earth had a whole lot of failures before there was truly lift-off.  The experiences of the first made an example of both what not to do and what to do in the midst of the experiences of the many who followed.  I think the same is true in our spiritual lives - we learn a great deal about what not to do and what really is the best path for us simply by looking at those who've gone before us.

When God, your God, ushers you into the land he promised through your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you, you’re going to walk into large, bustling cities you didn’t build, well-furnished houses you didn’t buy, come upon wells you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive orchards you didn’t plant. When you take it all in and settle down, pleased and content, make sure you don’t forget how you got there—God brought you out of slavery in Egypt.  (Deuteronomy 6:10-12 MSG)

Egypt was a place of barrenness for Israel.  When they came out of Egypt, they were "high" on the promises of great provision and purpose.  I imagine they never expected to face the barrenness of the wilderness in between their deliverance from Egypt and their entrance into the Promised Land!  Most of us never really expect any barrenness - any wilderness experiences - along the way in our spiritual lives.  I think we hope for life to let us get a "buy" on some of the challenges others have faced.  I think we do get a "buy" on occasion - simply because we learn from those who go before us.  Yet, there are times when we just find ourselves smack dab in the middle of the wilderness, wondering why we are experiencing such barrenness in our lives. In those moments, remember this - to move from promise to provision we will likely face a few problems along the way - the biggest of which is our unbelief.

Think about this - would you ever begin a journey if there was no promise of something at the end of that journey?  Not likely!  You'd probably just remain in your contented little world, as bad as it may be, without ever moving forward.  It is the disturbance of our peacefulness in our present circumstances which actually makes us hope for the promise of something different on the "other side".  Between the promise and the realization of the provision we face problems.  Problems are a way of life - they are God's opportunities to reveal himself strong in our lives, but they are also his opportunities to reveal where it is we are leaning on our own strength to just "get by".  In between the place of our bondage and our provision we will encounter a whole lot of testing.  Testing is really what occurs in the wilderness experience.  In the wilderness, God has the chance to show us who and what it is we really rely upon for the provision which is promised!

One thing I don't think we realize is the leading which brings us into the wilderness.  You know, Israel did not end up in the wilderness because they took a wrong turn!  God brought them there!  They left Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, came across and found themselves smack dab in the midst of the wilderness.  Between their deliverance and their provision, God led them into the wilderness.  Now, they chose how long they'd stay in the wilderness, but God was the one leading them into it.  This should give us some hope because I think most of us think we are in the wilderness by our own doing. It is quite the opposite - God brought us into it, he goes with us through it, and he will lead us out of it.  The only thing we have control over is how long we need to stay in it!

Most of us fail to recognize the wilderness is not about our comfort - if we wanted to be comfortable we would have never left what was familiar to us. The wilderness is about our character - for it is in the midst of moments of decision that our choices are refined.  You know, an oak tree grows over the course of a man's lifetime.  A weed only takes a matter of a few days to reach its maturity!  I don't know about you, but an oak tree appeals to me a whole lot more than a huge weed!  Maybe we'd resist the wilderness a little less if we realized the Lord is just after the oak he sees in us!  We want the fast fix. God wants the permanent fix!  We want the quick provision.  God wants to prepare us for the provision.  Guess what?  We never get to the provision until we have learned the lessons of the wilderness.  Think of the wilderness as God's refining ground - his proving ground.  It is there where our motives are uncovered and our true identity is discovered.  

If we begin to see the wilderness as a time of taking us from promise to provision - we might just begin to understand the middle part - process. Nothing good in life ever comes without the evidence of some type of process. Cookies in the jar are a result of someone following a process to actually bake those cookies.  They follow a recipe - what someone who has gone before them has learned.  In following the recipe, they prepare the batch of cookies and take them through the process of baking.  The right ingredients are a result of someone making a whole lot of trial and error decisions.  The right baking time is a result of someone determining how "done" cookies look and feel.  The enjoyment of the cookie is a result of the process.  We have a whole lot of examples of those who have experimented with the right ingredients and the proper amount of "cooking" time, don't we?  

We often want to experiment with our own "recipes" and wonder why we don't get the results another has experienced.  Guess what?  A good recipe is worth following!  The wilderness experience is pretty well "charted" by those who have gone before us.  We see the process of the wilderness if we look closely. There is the response to the promise - we get out of our place of contentment.  Then there is the walk toward provision - we take some first steps.  In the next how ever many moments, there is a whole lot of clarifying of our purpose.  The wilderness is the time of "clarifying" - getting things in right order in our lives.  Good news - we don't go into the wilderness alone, we don't walk through it alone, and we won't come out of it alone!  God goes with us!  So, instead of cursing the wilderness, you might just begin to realize between every promise and its provision comes a time of purposeful growth. God is after the oak in us - the wilderness really helps bring out the strength of the oak!  Just sayin!

Come into satisfaction

¹ God—you're my God! I can't get enough of you! I've worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts. ^2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory. In your generous love I am really living at last! My lips brim praises like fountains. 

   I bless you every time I take a breath; my arms wave like banners of praise to you. 

(Psalm 62:1-5)

In today's mad rush to find fame and fortune, we often miss out on the things in life that really give us the most satisfaction.  I was talking with a friend this week about how one of her friends was asked why she never had children.  The answer was, "We just got so busy that we forgot to have them."  Career, interests, making a living - each presented a distraction that kept the couple from realizing the passage of time.

Look at David's words that we are considering today.  He finds time for God, even in the midst of the Judean wilderness, being pursued by enemies galore.  He even acknowledged that he had "worked up such a hunger and thirst" for his God.  Where did this occur?  In his travels across dry and weary deserts.  Did you ever stop to think that purpose of some the driest and weariest places in your life were designed by God to bring you to a place of hunger and thirst?

You would consider me a lunatic if I told you that the driest places can be the richest experiences of your life!  Think about it - do we really find as much satisfaction in making a trip to the well when we are not that thirsty as we do when we are parched and dry?  Do we drink as deeply when the need is for basic hydration versus thirst?  The dry times cause us to both drink deeper and to enjoy what we are experiencing in God!

Satisfaction really has a couple of meanings - being contented, and being fulfilled.  Contentment is something that comes because we have peace of mind.  Peace of mind is not something of our own making - it comes from drinking deeply of God's graces, enjoying his provisions, and realizing his protection.  Fulfillment is usually associated with coming to an end of something - the work is completed.  Coming through a dry place in life is rewarding - there is enjoyment in the realization of what has been achieved in the space of the wilderness.

The invitation to us today is to come into satisfaction.  There, if we are willing to drink deeply and taste of his goodness, we will find great delight for our weary souls, searching spirits, and boggled minds.