Promised Land living involves adopting an ongoing mindset. It is a choice to live with eyes wide open to God and His activity. It is the choice to trust Him in spite of our circumstances. It is the daily commitment to live an abundant spiritual life as we open ourselves to the activity of His Spirit.
The bride was radiant in her billowing white gown. The wedding guests stood transfixed as her parents escorted her down the aisle. Despite her beauty, I turned my eyes toward the front, not wanting to miss my nephew’s reaction as he awaited his bride. His broad smile and steady gaze in her direction revealed his joy. After a year of planning and anticipating, the day of their wedding had finally come.
The priest welcomed the bride and groom and invited the guests to take their seats. His lilting Irish accent made his words even more striking. He turned to the couple: “Today, your union as husband and wife is a living representation of the sacred covenant God makes with His people. After this ceremony, you will give your guests a glimpse of the Promised Land as we eat, drink and dance to celebrate your marriage. Our sweet time together will be a small taste of the milk and honey God promised His people when they entered the Promised Land.”
I nearly stood up and cheered at his words. Since I was in the middle of studying Priscilla Shirer’s One in a Million: Journey to Your Promised Land, it felt especially significant to me. As I sat listening, I thought of the many parallels between the covenant a bride and groom make during their ceremony and Promised Land living Priscilla Shirer describes in the workbook. A wedding celebrates a couple’s choice to be together for a lifetime. As they take their vows before family, friends and God, they make a public declaration of their commitment to one another. They shift their mindsets from being two individuals to being a family unit; two become one. They make a covenant that is intended to last for a lifetime and that transcends both the good and bad circumstances they will face. Similarly, Promised Land living involves adopting an ongoing mindset. It is a choice to live with eyes wide open to God and His activity. It is the choice to trust Him in spite of our circumstances. It is the daily commitment to live an abundant spiritual life as we open ourselves to the activity of His Spirit.
However, just like marriage is not all about white dresses and wedding cake, Promised Land living isn’t all about milk and honey. “Remember, the Israelites faced enemies as soon as they crossed the Jordan so promised-land living does not mean a life with no problems. It means experiencing God’s power and presence in spite of difficulty.” (One in a Million, p. 160). Promised Land living happens when our eyes remain fixed on God, no matter what. It’s about trusting Him and being committed to His plan, even when we’re not sure what He’s doing—even when the milk and honey don’t seem to be flowing.
Joshua led the Israelites through many battles as God fulfilled His promise to give them the land of Canaan. After leading them for between ten and twenty years, Joshua knew his days on earth were coming to a close. Commentators estimate he was approximately 110 years old when he made his farewell address to the people in Joshua 23 and 24. Observing Israel’s tendency to compromise with their enemies, he admonished them to renew and recommit to their conditional covenant with God. He wanted them to make a clear and intentional choice to step out of complacency:
“The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised. So be very careful to love the Lord your God.
“But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the Lord your God has given you.” (Joshua 23:9-13, NIV)
He also verbalized his choice to follow God’s plan and to remain faithful to His covenant, regardless of what anyone else did:
“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15, NIV)
Just like a marriage covenant, Promised Land living requires the resolve to stay focused. A bride and groom choose wedding rings as a symbol of their commitment. Similarly, Joshua used tangible reminders for the people. He wrote down the covenant they made with God and set up a large stone to remind them of the promises they made so they would not forget once he was gone.
As we embrace Promised Land living, consider creating your own tangible reminder to stay focused on this new way of thinking. Maybe it’s a bookmark you keep in your Bible with a verse from our study; maybe it’s a smooth stone with “Promised Land 2015” written on it and displayed where it will be a constant reminder, maybe it’s a journal where you record God’s activity in your life. Choose anything that will remind you that no matter where our journeys take us in the days ahead, we can always remain within the borders of the Promised Land.
Make the words of Brian Doerksen’s song “Today (As for Me and My House)” your prayer of commitment as we close our One in a Million workbooks but continue to embrace Promised Land living.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSOQQVvHwJI
Pfeiffer, Charles F. and Harrison, Everett F.; Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Editors; Moody Press, 1962, 1990.
Shirer, Priscilla; One in a Million: Journey to Your Promised Land; Lifeway Press; 2010, 2014.
Looking at the story of the rock from Numbers 20, God’s punishment to Moses may seem harsh. However, the stark reality is that we are all sinners in a fallen world who deserve to be barred from entrance into the Promised Land of heaven. In the same way God’s grace provided water in spite of Moses’ sin, His grace provided Jesus to pay for our sins when we didn’t deserve it.
Thirty-nine years into their desert wanderings Moses and the Israelites were on the brink of entering the Promised Land. Just when it was finally within their grasp, Moses and his brother, Aaron, committed a sin so grievous that God barred them from leading the people into Canaan. They were doomed to die in the desert. It all started with a familiar problem: the Israelites were grumbling because they had no water. Once again, Moses and Aaron sought help from the Lord:
“Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.’
So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, ‘Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?’ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.’” (Numbers 20:6-12, NIV)
In this week’s study Priscilla Shirer asks: “How did Moses offend the Lord? Why do you think the Lord withheld entry into Canaan rather than assigning a lesser punishment?” (One in a Million p. 116) For me, these weren’t easy questions to answer. If you’re feeling the same, continue reading to see what I learned from consulting different teachers and commentaries. It may help you understand the reason for God’s severe punishment of Moses and Aaron in spite of their prominent positions.
Disobedience to God’s Clear Instructions
God gave a simple direction to Moses and Aaron. They were to speak to a specific rock while the community watched. God promised that water would pour from the rock as a result. However, Moses chose to respond to the people’s grumbling with exaggerated anger. Instead of simply speaking to the rock, he struck it twice with his staff. Psalm 106:32-33 provides some commentary on this:
“By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them; for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips.” (NIV)
Pinpointing What Went Wrong
In his anger, Moses over reacted to the Israelites’ complaints about having no water. He let his emotions take control and spoke rashly to the people. “It was not God but Moses who was angry at the people. Therefore, the pronoun we was a form of blasphemy… If Moses had merely spoken to the rock, as the Lord had directed, the miracle would have pointed to the power of God. As it was, Moses took God’s place both in word and deed. Moses’ sin was a willful refusal to point away from himself to God’s power and thus sanctify the Lord in the eyes of the people. Moses and Aaron shared the chastisement for this sin.” (Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 138)
Several things stand out to me in this explanation:
1) Moses let his emotions get the best of him–his anger led him to sin
2) Moses characterized God inaccurately to the people
3) Moses spoke for God when he was not instructed to do so (the commentary labels this as a form of blasphemy)
4) Moses demonstrated pride in his “willful refusal to point away from himself”
The truth is, we’re not much different from Moses:
-There are times when we let our emotions take control and lead us into sin.
-We all have moments of inaccurately portraying God to others. It’s called hypocrisy. (Have you ever encountered someone who wants nothing to do with God because they’ve previously had a negative experience with a hypocritical Christian?)
-There are times when we’re tempted to speak for God or to bend His Word to fit our agendas.
-All of us also struggle with pride. It’s human nature to place us in the center of the universe and to want everything to revolve around our personal wants and needs.
God’s Grace
One thing that is easy to overlook in this story is that despite Moses and Aaron’s sin, God still provided water from the rock to meet the people’s needs that day. In fact, the fingerprints of God’s grace are smeared all over the Israelites’ story. Jesus is present throughout their wanderings even though He’s never mentioned by name. Consider this: God’s daily provision of manna and water give tangible examples of what Jesus does for us spiritually as the Bread of Life (John 6) and the Living Water (John 4 & 7).
The apostle Paul links Jesus directly to the Israelites:
“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4, NIV)
One commentary explains the rock mentioned in Numbers “was the visible means of the supply of water which came ultimately from Christ. Since people of Israel obtained this water in the opening years of their wilderness wandering (Exodus 17:1-9) and in the closing years (Numbers 20:1-13), it is only natural to infer that he, Christ, the Supplier of the water, was with them all along the way.” (Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 1245) Sometimes we forget that as a member of the Trinity, Jesus was with God from the beginning:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth…. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:1,2,14,17 NIV)
Looking at the story of the rock from Numbers 20, God’s punishment to Moses may seem harsh. However, the stark reality is that we are all sinners in a fallen world who deserve to be barred from entrance into the Promised Land of heaven. In the same way God’s grace provided water in spite of Moses’ sin, His grace provided Jesus to pay for our sins when we didn’t deserve it. Because of this, we’re freed to receive God’s grace so that we can enjoy His abundance in our present lives and spend eternity with Him.
Moses first encountered God in the burning bush at the foot of Mount Sinai. He returned with the Israelites to worship there later. From the heights of Mount Nebo, he had sweeping views of the Promised Land that he would never enter. Because of this, it seemed fitting to include a song describing the spiritual moments that happen in our mountain top experiences. Click on the link to hear Crowder’s “This I Know.”
Pfeiffer, Charles F. and Harrison, Everett F.; Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Editors; Moody Press, 1962, 1990.
Shirer, Priscilla; One in a Million: Journey to Your Promised Land; Lifeway Press; 2010, 2014.
Intimacy with the Lord comes through authentic connection with Him. Once we’ve dropped our facades and started being honest in prayer, our relationships with Him grow deeper.
It all started with a simple desire to remodel our home. We had no idea God planned to use such an “unspiritual” situation to test and refine our faith. He took us on a long, painful journey through the wilderness. In fact, I’ve spent the last several years writing the entire story and pursuing options for getting it published.
Reading Priscilla Shirer’s words inspired me to share an excerpt from my manuscript that illustrates her point: “The exodus was for this moment—when God’s people would be brought unto Himself and begin intimate fellowship and covenant with Him. This was His goal above getting them to Canaan.” (One in a Million, p. 84)
Below you’ll find a portion of my family’s remodel story: From Our Mess to God’s Best.
Over the months, the process of remodeling our tiny home had been filled with revealing moments…We’d anticipated the financial cost of the project and the inconvenience it would cause, but had failed to recognize the emotional and spiritual toll it would take on us.
The thought of having our faith stretched by our remodel hadn’t occurred to my husband or me. We’d learned to trust God through a number of hardships and had favorite Bible verses that comforted us through job transitions, difficult relationships, anxiety, depression and the deaths of family members. We believed God used hardships for good and had seen evidence of it in our lives.
However, we also prided ourselves in our self-sufficiency and our ability to problem-solve smaller issues on our own. Good planning and common sense had kept daily life orderly for almost seventeen years of marriage. We’d never considered that the Lord had things to teach us through the problems that arose from living in a privileged, industrialized society. God was using a mess of our own making to transform us from the inside out, whether we wanted Him to or not…
One of the first challenges came before the bulk of the remodel had even started. Our contractor wouldn’t make eye contact as he told us the news. “The city’s building department rejected the plans.”
For a moment we were speechless, unable to process this development…The city’s issues meant the modest remodel that was so much smaller than our original dreams now needed to be scaled back even further. We had orchestrated our time line down to the last detail and anticipated construction beginning just after Christmas, once everything had been approved. We had no time buffer for delays in our idealized schedule. This remodel had been years in the making. We’d run short on patience and were ready to start…We never imagined there would be a problem with the plan approval…
The contractor left and my husband closed the door and disappeared into the office without saying a word. An overwhelming combination of disappointment, anger and defeat felt like a wave crashing down on me. Neither one of us seemed able to talk about how we were feeling without making things worse.
I retreated to our bedroom, closed the door and lay face down on the floor with my arms spread wide. The coarse carpet fibers pressed into my forehead and the faint smell of dusty shoes filled my nostrils. My emotions were so raw I could hardly formulate words to pray. The room was quiet and warm as rain drummed on the roof. I was too tense to let the tears flow. For the first few minutes, all I could do was breathe deeply. With each exhale I tried to release all of the negative things I was feeling. Bitterness. Anger. Confusion. Mistrust. With each inhale a different word would come to mind. Peace. Wisdom. Clarity. Direction. Eventually more words came and with my face to the floor, I wrestled silently with God in a one-sided conversation.
Why did you say ‘yes’ to the remodel and then allow this roadblock? Should we keep moving forward, or are you telling us to stop? Why did you let me get excited if this whole thing is going to fall apart like all the other times? What are we supposed to be learning from this?
Despite the physical discomfort, I remained face down in total surrender. Slowly I began to remember God’s faithfulness to us over the years. He usually didn’t do things the way we dictated, and they always ended up turning out better than we could have imagined. I thought of job searches, strained relationships, and challenging moments serving at church. God came through for us every single time. Fragments of different verses that had strengthened us through the hard times in the past came to mind.
I will never leave you or forsake you… I know the plans I have for you…You will find me when you seek me with all your heart…I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living…Be still and know that I am God.
As the promises flooded my mind, God gently pried open my tight fists of control and I held my hands palms up. I was ready to receive whatever the Lord wanted to give and trusted that He still had a plan. I knew there was a purpose for this setback, something we needed to work through before we could come out the other side. I got up from the floor and reached for my journal in the bedside table. Writing prayers had always been a way for me to connect with God.
God, I pray you would help us to trust in you even when things seem to make no sense. Please help us not to fret and to trust that you will make a way. I look forward with anticipation to how you will sort out this frustrating situation. God, please help us to conduct ourselves and treat others in a way that honors you through this process. Please give us wisdom, creativity and tenacity. I trust you even though I can’t see the way forward through this. God, please help us to keep a healthy perspective and to keep our eyes on you.
As I finished writing in my journal, inexplicable peace washed over me. I had no idea how this situation was going to work out, but I trusted that it would. God already knew the outcome and I could thank Him for that.
I emerged from the bedroom and found my husband sitting in our home office with his legs propped up on the desk and leaning back in his chair. His opened Bible rested on his lap. It was a relief to see that even though we retreated from each other, we’d both pursued God for wisdom and answers. (From Our Mess to God’s Best, Marybeth McCullum)
God knew our struggles with the remodel and waited patiently until we were desperate enough to wrestle through our frustrations with Him. We had no idea He also was teaching us to rely on Him in preparation for bigger challenges yet to unfold. Our growing dependence on Him was vital for giving us the strength we would need.
Intimacy with the Lord comes through authentic connection with Him. Once we’ve dropped our facades and started being honest in prayer, our relationships with Him grow deeper. The Psalms are filled with David and other writers grappling with their frustrations in the presence of God. One of my favorite invitations to be honest before God is Psalm 62:8: “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” (NIV) Our honest laments are the first step toward letting Him change our perspectives.
Through my wilderness experience with our disastrous remodel, I stopped asking God, “Why?” and started asking: “What do You want me to learn? How are You revealing Yourself to me?” When I relinquished my illusion of control and surrendered my sense of entitlement, God enabled me to find deeper intimacy with Him than I’d ever had before.
I pray you’ll find the same thing to be true in your wilderness. Instead of just seeking answers or solutions, seek greater intimacy with Him. Regardless of how your circumstances unfold, you won’t be disappointed.
Whenever I hear Phillip Phillips’ song “Home” I think of my crazy home remodel and imagine God singing the lyrics of the song to my family. I hope it encourages you in your wilderness journey too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTg1n95–KE
Shirer, Priscilla; One in a Million– Journey to Your Promised Land; Lifeway Press; 2010 & 2014
Living through seasons of hardship can make us bitter people or better people. The choice is ours, but the decision affects all the people in our lives. Each stop on a journey through the wilderness presents a new opportunity to learn, grow and trust God, if we are willing.
The people were parched and weary. After three days of walking in the Wilderness of Shur, they still hadn’t found water. Finally discovering a small spring, they stooped eagerly to scoop the refreshing liquid into their dehydrated bodies, not caring if it ran down their beards or soaked their dirty robes. But, there was a problem: “they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.” (Exodus 15:23b-25a, NKJV)
The Israelites’ first reflex always seemed to be negative, despite the miracles they witnessed and God’s constant provision for them. Any time they experienced a difficulty they reacted with grumbling. The water they couldn’t drink at Marah was bitter, just like their attitudes.
Conversely, we see God demonstrating His patience with them each time Moses cried out with humility asking for help. God took their bitter water and made it sweet. There is no mention of the Israelites showing gratitude to God for performing this miracle.
This story illustrates a truth we can apply to our own lives: living through seasons of hardship can make us bitter people or better people. The choice is ours, but the decision affects all the people in our lives. Each stop on a journey through the wilderness presents a new opportunity to learn, grow and trust God, if we are willing. Priscilla Shirer explains, “This is what God does when we cry out to Him, displaying our vulnerability during seasons of distress and giving Him our need for emotional healing in the face of disappointment. He is the One who can turn the bitter into the sweet.” (One in a Million, p. 65)
I can think of no better example of God making bitter things sweet than Corrie Ten Boom’s classic tale The Hiding Place. It takes place during World War II and tells the story of two unmarried Dutch sisters in their mid-fifties who are sent to Nazi concentration camps after being caught hiding Jews. There are times when I’ve been reading the story aloud to my son that I’ve paused to blink back tears and swallow the lump in my throat. I’m in awe of the example set by Corrie and Betsie Ten Boom.
At one point near the end of the book, the sisters are moved to Ravensbruck, a notorious women’s extermination camp in Germany. As they are ushered into their quarters in Barracks 28, they discover a cavernous room housing four times as many women as it was designed to hold. Corrie describes the scene: “Our noses told us, first, that the place was filthy: somewhere plumbing had backed up, the bedding was soiled and rancid. Then as our eyes adjusted to the gloom we saw that there were no individual beds at all, but great square piers stacked three high, and wedged side by side, and end to end with only an occasional narrow aisle slicing through.” (The Hiding Place p. 208)
As the sisters attempt to settle into their new living situation, Corrie laments to her sister, “Betsie, how can we live in such a place?” It takes Corrie a moment to realize Betsie’s answer is a prayer: “Show us. Show us how.” (p. 208) Within moments Betsie remembers a familiar passage of Scripture and realizes it is the answer to her prayer: “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14-18 NKJV)
The two sisters marvel at how fitting the passage from First Thessalonians is for their situation and feel it is God’s Word meant especially for them. Rather than being bitter about their horrific circumstances, they begin to thank God, naming specific things for which they can be grateful. First they thank Him that their captors have not separated them and that they are able to endure their trials together. Next, they thank Him for the tiny New Testament they were able to smuggle into the camp. They also thank Him for their cramped living quarters, which will give them ample opportunities to share the hope of His Word with their bunkmates. However, when Betsie suggests they even thank God for the fleas in the bunks, Corrie says “There’s no way even God can make me grateful for a flea.” (p. 210).
Their first night in the barracks, the two sisters listen in distress as “among exhausted, ill-fed people, quarrels [erupt] constantly.” Betsie clasps Corrie’s hand and prays: “Lord Jesus, send Your peace into this room. There has been too little praying here. The very walls know it. But where You come Lord, the spirit of strife cannot exist…” (p. 211).
Over the subsequent weeks the sisters begin sharing the hope of God’s love with anyone who wants to listen. They hold nightly worship services where women gather around their bunk eagerly awaiting the next portion of the New Testament they’ll read aloud. The atmosphere in the barracks slowly changes as Betsie’s prayer is answered and the women replace their quarreling with love and support.
The two sisters are cautious about advertising their nightly “church service,” fearing they’ll be found out by their Nazi captors. However, they grow bolder as the days pass and they realize the bunkroom never seems to be patrolled. They are mystified but grateful for their freedom in the barracks.
One day, Betsie discovers the reason none of the Nazi guards will enter their quarters: it’s because of the fleas. Corrie says “My mind rushed back to our first hour in this place. I remembered Betsie’s bowed head, remembered her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for.” (p. 220) Realizing that God deserves thanks even for the fleas leaves Corrie in awe of His attentiveness to every detail.
The Ten Boom sisters could waste their time lamenting their circumstances and being angry with God for allowing them to be arrested for their good works. Yet, they choose to thank Him in the midst of their trials. Rather than turning inward to fixate on self-pity or simple survival, they choose to participate in expanding God’s kingdom in a place that would rival hell itself. They care for the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of their fellow prisoners. They even pray for their ruthlessly cruel guards.
It’s humbling and inspiring to read about these two women. What an incredible impact they had because they chose to become better people instead of bitter ones in the midst of their trials.
Between the example of the Israelites and the Ten Booms, it seems clear that grumbling and negativity lead to an attitude of bitterness that infects others. Conversely, gratefulness and a positive perspective are blessings to others and expand our opportunities to have a positive impact on them. The Apostle Paul describes this in his letter to the Philippians:
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” (Philippians 2:14-16, NIV)
In spite of their horrific wilderness experience, Betsie and Corrie Ten Boom shined like stars in their generation as they held firmly to the word of life. I’d like to do the same in my generation, how about you?
Laura Story’s Song “Make Something Beautiful” captures the essence of letting God use our hardships to honor Him and bless others. Click on the link below to enjoy the song.
Shirer, Priscilla; One in a Million: Journey to Your Promised Land; Lifeway Press; 2009, 2014.
Ten Boom, Corrie (with Elizabeth and John Sherrill); The Hiding Place; Chosen Books; 1971, 1984, 2006.
My desert wandering led me to become healthier emotionally, spiritually and relationally. I was never lost because God was right beside me the whole time, gently guiding and teaching me through my struggles.
The tears were unpredictable and disconcerting. I’d be sitting at the breakfast table with my kids or lying in bed trying to fall asleep and suddenly I’d find myself sobbing uncontrollably. It had been a hard year and although I’d been clinging to the Psalms and praying constantly, the emotional heaviness wouldn’t lift. I was wandering in a wilderness of pain and confusion, much like Priscilla Shirer describes in One in a Million. In her study, she says God “often chooses a wilderness journey for us to give us an opportunity to experience Him in a way we might miss in a place of ease and convenience…we have to decide if we will follow where He is leading and trust that He knows what he is doing” (p. 34-35).
For me, that wilderness time came unexpectedly. Over the span of a few months, three significant relationships in my life changed course without warning, leaving me wondering what I’d done wrong. Each person had withdrawn from me for different reasons. My safe and comfortable world suddenly felt cold and lonely. Worse still, one of the relationships was within my circle of friends at church. So I struggled silently, not wanting to gossip or call attention to the ways our close community was being quietly torn apart. Attending Sunday worship, Bible study and small group became triggers for anxiety and discouragement. I often left feeling worse than when I arrived.
I’d been living in this wilderness for eight months when the tears started flowing inexplicably. Without warning, a flood of emotion would overwhelm me, with no clear explanation for what had caused it. Despite my efforts to lean into God, to pray and find comfort in His Word, the deep sadness seemed to be pulling me under little by little. It was a difficult time in my life, but few people knew about it. I was a master at putting up a façade and appearing to have everything under control.
Finally, when my angst seemed to consume every moment of our time at home, my husband said the dreaded words I needed to hear. “I’m here for you and I want to help you, but I think it’s time for you to go to counseling too.” After some weak protesting, I admitted he was right. Making the phone call to schedule the first appointment was one of the best and hardest things I’ve ever done. Maybe that’s why Priscilla Shirer’s words resonate with me so much: “You and I must boldly ask the Lord to let us see Him, even if the light of his presence is best seen against the veil of darkness.” (p.37)
With the help of my godly counselor, I began to peel back the layers of pain. I was able to understand myself and to see how the fractured relationships I’d been grieving were indicators of deeper issues that needed to be confronted. I’d been wandering on my own, trying to find relief, now I had a fellow traveler on my wilderness journey. She had a map and the tools I needed to find emotional healing and health. The things that caused me pain became catalysts for growth.
Although that was a dark time in my life, I look back on it now with gratitude. I learned about my assumptions and how they affected the way I saw myself. My identity was wrapped up in my relationships with people and my desire to be valued by them. That season in the wilderness was refining the parts of me that needed to be changed before God could use my gifts to bless others. I doubt I would be writing this or any other blog if I hadn’t gone through that time or done the hard work to get healthy with the help of my counselor.
Taking that journey through the wilderness enabled me to be more honest with myself. It allowed me to be authentic and to identify with others in their struggles. Instead of trying to hide the parts of me that were messy and complicated, I started using them to connect with others and to help them on their own journeys. My wilderness experience made it possible for me to do what Scripture describes:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NIV)
My desert wandering led me to become healthier emotionally, spiritually and relationally. I was never lost because God was right beside me the whole time, gently guiding and teaching me through my struggles.
Similarly, God never left the Israelites in their wanderings. He was there leading them each step of the way: “Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel day or night. He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people.” (Exodus 13:21-22, NIV)
Each stop along their route had a specific purpose. They were not aimlessly wandering–God was guiding them intentionally throughout their journey. Let this be an encouragement if you are in a season of wandering. God is right there beside you, waiting for you to learn the valuable things He has to teach.
Not every wilderness experience requires the help of a trained counselor like mine did (but don’t rule it out if you think it might help). No matter what we’re facing, our difficulties can always be used for greater good when we trust God, stay engaged in His Word and enlist the support of wise and godly people.
I love the message of Steven Curtis Chapman’s song “Glorious Unfolding.” It reminds me never to put a period where God intends a comma. God sees so much farther than our limited view of life. Our wilderness journeys are temporary experiences designed to take us to places better than we can imagine. We can stand firm, trusting He’ll walk beside us through the wilderness and all the way to the Promised Land.
Click on the link to enjoy “Glorious Unfolding” and to watch the inspiring story the video tells.
Shirer, Priscialla; One in a Million, Journey to Your Promised Land; Lifeway Press, 2009
In her Bible study “One in a Million” Priscilla Shirer uses the story of the Israelites traveling to the Promised Land as a jumping off place for inspiring Christians to experience God’s power and abundance. If you’re like me, you learn best by seeing the big picture before zeroing in on specific details. Since the study jumps into the story assuming you know what happened earlier, I thought putting the story into context might be helpful.
This week marks the beginning of a new Bible study for Focused Living at CPC. Priscilla Shirer uses the story of the Israelites traveling to the Promised Land as a jumping off place for inspiring Christians to experience God’s power and abundance. If you’re like me, you learn best by seeing the big picture before zeroing in on specific details. Since the study jumps into the story assuming you know what happened earlier, I thought putting the story into context might be helpful. In case you don’t have time to read Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy this week, you’ll find a brief history of events summarized below with Scripture references included for you to read further. You might find this history helpful even if you aren’t doing Priscilla’s study.
Background from Genesis & Exodus
To understand the significance of the Jews’ wandering in the desert, we need to look at a brief history of the key people and events that led up to that time in their history. (Note: the names “Jews,” “Israelites,” “Hebrews,” and “Children of Israel” are used interchangeably here).
Abraham is known as the father of the Jewish nation. In Genesis 15 God made a covenant with Abraham telling him that he would be the father of a great nation and that he would give him a large portion of land (ie: The Promised Land). Side note: A covenant is a solemn promise or undertaking between two parties; a mutual understanding that binds the two parties together and agrees they will fulfill certain obligations. Sometimes God made covenant promises to people that did not require anything of them in return, other times He made them between people and Himself.
Many years later, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, had a son, Isaac, when they were 100 and 90 years old, respectively. (In a weak moment prior to this, Abraham also fathered a son named Ishmael with his servant, Hagar, but that is another story.)
Isaac married Rebekah and they had twin boys named Jacob and Esau. (Genesis 25:19-34)
Although he was the second twin born, Jacob became the patriarch of the family by tricking Esau out of his birthright (another story for another day found in Genesis 27). God promised that He would give Jacob many descendants and that the earth would be blessed through him and his offspring. God promised to watch over Jacob and never to leave him. (Genesis 28:10-19). God later changed Jacob’s name to Israel. (Genesis 32:28) This name is where we get the terms “Israelites” and “Children of Israel.”
Jacob had twelve sons with four different women (two of them were his wives, Leah and Rachel, and two were his wives’ maidservants, Zilpah and Bilhah). These twelve sons later became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. Their names were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph (his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh were heads of the two “half tribes”), Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher (Genesis 35:23-26).
One of Jacob’s sons was named Joseph. He was Jacob’s favorite son from his most cherished wife, Rachel. Because of this favoritism, Jacob was despised by his older brothers. (Part of his story is told in the Broadway musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.” Part is also told in the book The Red Tent) Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and lied to their father, telling him Joseph had been killed. Through a long chain of amazing events, Joseph ended up later in life being second in command to the pharaoh in Egypt. Joseph saved the Egyptians from a famine through God’s divine wisdom. During the famine, his brothers came to Egypt for food. They did not know Joseph was still alive or that he was second in command. Eventually Joseph revealed his identity to them and forgave them for selling him into slavery. He even noted how God had used their evil intent to bring good into his life and the lives of others. (Great story- check it out in Genesis 37 & 39-45). Eventually, with Joseph’s blessing, his eleven brothers brought their families and their parents to settle in Egypt. (Genesis 37-50 tells this story).
After Joseph died, a new pharaoh came to power in Egypt who did not know Joseph or the history of the Israelites. By this time, Joseph’s eleven brothers and all of their family members were growing in numbers. The new pharaoh feared they would become so numerous and powerful that they would overthrow him if given the opportunity, so he enslaved them and made them do forced labor building his cities. (God had foretold this to Abraham in Genesis 15:13). The Hebrews continued to bear children and grow in numbers, leading the pharaoh to command that all Hebrew baby boys be killed.
Finally, after about 400 years of enslavement, Moses was born. To prevent him from being slaughtered with the other Hebrew boy babies, his mother strategically placed him in a basket in the Nile River near the location Pharaoh’s daughter bathed. The plan worked and Pharaoh’s daughter rescued Moses from the river and raised him as her own in the palace. Moses’ mother even got to be his wet nurse. (Exodus 1 & 2)
Moses lived in Egypt as a son of Pharaoh for 40 years. At age 40 he killed an Egyptian slave master who was beating a fellow Jew. When the murder was discovered, he fled to the land of Midian, where he married and lived as a shepherd for the next 40 years. When Moses was 80, God appeared to him in the desert and spoke to him from a burning bush. He commanded Moses to go back to Egypt to ask Pharaoh to set the Israelites free. Moses was to lead them to the Promised Land, which had been promised to Abraham long before. (Exodus 3 & 4)
God promised He would be with Moses. God also told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart and that miraculous signs would have to be performed before Pharaoh would agree to let the people go (Exodus 7).
God sent ten plagues on Egypt, one at a time, to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Each time, Moses warned Pharaoh in advance that God would send a plague, but he wouldn’t listen. The plagues were: 1) turning all the water in Egypt to blood 2) filling the whole country with frogs 3) filling the land with gnats 4) sending swarms of flies 5) sending a plague on all of the livestock 6) sending a plague of boils on people and animals 7) sending a violent hailstorm 8) sending a plague of locusts to ravage the land 9) sending darkness over the land for three days straight.
When Pharaoh still would not relent, God sent the final plague. This time, all the firstborns in every family would be killed. The Passover was God’s protection against this plague for the Israelites. (Exodus 12:1-30)
After the tenth plague, Pharaoh finally let the Israelites leave Egypt. (Later he changed his mind and pursued them into the wilderness. You may know it if you ever watched the animated movie “The Prince of Egypt” or the new movie “Exodus.”)
In Exodus 12:14-20 God commanded the Israelites to commemorate the Passover for the generations to come. The celebration was also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (This is the feast Jesus and His disciples celebrated together on the night before He was crucified.)
God led the Israelites as they fled Egypt and began their journey to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
After fleeing Egypt and passing through the Red Sea, on dry ground, Moses led the Israelites into the desert on their way back to the Promised Land. At the base of Mount Sinai, God re-established His covenant with the people, renewing what He established with their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In Exodus chapters 19-24, God added further clarification to the covenant, which became known as the Sinaitic Covenant (because it was established at Mt. Sinai). One of the central portions of the covenant God gave was the Ten Commandments. These commandments explained God’s design to enable His people to have a right relationship with Him and others. (Exodus 20)
God promised that He would give the Israelites the Promised Land, but on the brink of entering it, they lost trust in Him. When the Israelites reached the border of the Promised Land, they sent spies to scout out the land and the people living in it. The spies reported that it was a good land that flowed with milk and honey. However, they also reported “The people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large…We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” (Numbers 13:28 & 31 NIV)
Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the twelve spies who disagreed with this assessment and encouraged the people to trust God and take possession of the land with God’s help. Ultimately, the people allowed their fear to consume them and refused to enter the land. (Numbers 14:1-24)
Joshua and Caleb were the only two people out of the roughly two million Jews who trusted God and believed He would deliver the Promised Land into their hands. This is what inspired Priscilla Shirer’s title One in a Million. The rest of the Israelites refused to trust God and carry out His plan. Once the people made this decision, God declared that they would be cursed to wander in the desert until they died. The ten spies who scouted the Promised Land and gave a bad report to the people were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. Only Joshua and Caleb survived. Because of this, the people changed their minds and tried to enter the Promised Land, although they no longer had God’s blessing. They were attacked by the inhabitants and turned away. (Numbers 14)
Because of their failure to trust God, the Israelites were cursed to stay in the desert for forty years until the entire disbelieving generation passed away. God would keep His covenant and go before them into the Promised Land, but only two members of the original group would enter the Promised Land: Joshua and Caleb.
At the end of his life, Moses spoke to the next generation of Israelites as they were on the brink of crossing into the Promised Land. All of them were born while their parents and grandparents had wandered in the desert for forty years. He laid out the blessings they would experience if they kept their covenant with God and the curses they would endure if they didn’t. (Deuteronomy 28-30)
Priscilla Shirer refers to different segments of this Bible story throughout the study. She also uses the parts of it as symbols for different aspects of our spiritual lives:
-Egypt represents times when we are/ were in bondage to sin.
-The desert wandering/ wilderness times symbolize seasons in our lives when we are trying to follow God’s plans but are unsure of where He is leading us. They can also be actual times of difficulty, such as dealing with an illness or financial struggles; emotional, such as dealing with broken relationships or grief/loss; or spiritual, such as struggling to figure out God’s plan.
-The Promised Land represents abundant life found in Christ (John 10:10). Reaching the Promised Land is about our attitudes changing as we choose to trust God. Our actual circumstances may or may not have changed, but we’ve experienced a personal and spiritual transformation that causes us to approach them from a new perspective.
Hopefully this summary will help you to have a sense of the context of the Old Testament references as you complete the study.
If you can identify with being in bondage to sin or wandering in the wilderness then you will find comfort and encouragement in Kari Jobe’s song “I Am Not Alone.” Click on the link for five minutes of great worship.
One thing I’ve learned is that it’s never futile to begin anew. Each time, we learn and grow in new ways.
Our car gleamed in the early morning light as we pointed it north and drove up the freeway. Freshly washed and waxed, the sun’s first rays reflected off the sleek surface as we began our ten-hour trek. It’s become a ritual in our family to begin a driving trip with a clean car. We even have a saying for it: “Clean cars run better.” It seems best to start a long road trip keeping this practice in mind. It’s never failed us yet.
Crossing the border from California into Oregon, a light dusting of snow began to fall. By the time we reached Portland, the grime of the road and the wet weather had dulled the sheen of the once-clean car. It was bound to happen, so why did we bother? Maybe it’s because there is something that feels good about starting fresh.
It could be the reason these words resonate with me:
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23, NIV)
Yes, the car got dirty after we washed it, but it was much easier to clean when we got home because the layers of dirt weren’t thick and hadn’t been there long. The same thing is true of our spiritual lives: every morning we get a new day to start again. God’s compassion for us is renewed and He shows His faithfulness. No matter how messy the day before was or how much we messed up, God lets us push the re-start button.
Maybe that’s why we celebrate a New Year. It’s why January First marks the day people resolve to start over and try again. One thing I’ve learned is that it’s never futile to begin anew. Each time, we learn and grow in new ways. Plus, it’s a chance to clear off the grime of past sins before they consume us. When we take time to do spiritual spring-cleaning, to examine our hearts and to receive God’s compassion afresh, we stay more closely aligned with His Spirit. The longer and further we stray, the harder it is to re-engage.
The beginning of a New Year is a great chance to regain lost ground and claim new territory in our walks with God. It’s the time to open a new devotional or to begin reading our Bibles daily. It’s a blank page, just waiting to be filled with new possibilities. If you’re a part of CPC’s Focused Living, you’ll be hearing much more about that as we begin our new study by Priscilla Shirer called One in a Million: Journey to Your Promised Land. If you’re a regular reader from beyond the group, I’ll be sure to keep it relevant for you.
I can’t wait to start fresh, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
Click on the link to be inspired by Lincoln Brewster’s song: “Made New.”
The person of Jesus is subtly or overtly woven throughout every plotline contained in the Bible. What a privilege it is to hold His Word in our hands and to be able to study it. What a thrill it is to realize again that His Word is living and active, always revealing new truths.
ΑΩ
I spent the fall leading a group studying God’s covenants in the Old Testament and how Jesus fulfilled them in the New Testament. Learning about the ways God’s plan unfolds through the centuries has given me an even deeper appreciation for why we celebrate the birth of Jesus. He was there with God at the dawn of creation and will be there in the earth’s last days. Jesus says it clearly in the book of Revelation:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Revelation 22:13, NIV)
In spite of His lofty position, He was willing to become a baby and grow up in our fallen world because He loves us so desperately. He endured it all so we could be saved from our sins and so we could choose to have a relationship with Him.
As I’ve been reading daily advent devotions this season, a few have driven home this concept of Jesus as Alpha and Omega: the One who was there in the beginning and will be there in the end. I’d like to share two new things that struck me about Jesus and the Christmas story in a new way.
Old Testament Connection
Jefferson Bethke’s devotion Jesus, True Jubilee provides new insight on the lengthy list of Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1. He points out that the names are organized in six groups of seven names. The next name, Jesus, was at the beginning of the seventh group of seven names. The Jews reading Matthew’s gospel would have understood the significance of this this:
“The idea of 7 7’s had been in the Jewish world for hundreds of years, as the sign of completing and celebration. More specifically, it pointed to the party and celebration of Jubilee. The Jubilee year would be the completion of the sabbatical years. Every 7 years God commanded Israel to take an entire Sabbath year. Rest. Let the crops chill. Enjoy His presence. But every 7th cycle of 7 years (so every 49 years) Israel was to throw an incredible party that entailed a few things — large scale debt would get cancelled, slaves would be set free, and God’s presence would be particularly manifest in the year of Jubilee….
Now back to Matthew. You can see just how explosive the list of names now becomes. In a very creative and fresh way Matthew is saying that the entire year of Jubilee that the Old Testament laid down was simply an arrow or signpost pointing to Jesus as the true Jubilee. With Him beginning the 7th group of 7 Matthew is saying Jesus is ushering in the true Jubilee!
Our spiritual debts are cancelled. We as slaves to sin are set free. And God’s presence is particularly made manifest in the fact that God Himself, Jesus, is walking among us! …When He entered into our world, He was bringing with Him an entire world Himself — a new way to live, to act, to love, and to know God face to face.” (Jesus, True Jubilee, Jefferson Bethke, www.faithgateway.com)
New Testament Connection
I never realized the Christmas story is also told in Revelation from a very different perspective. Author John Eldredge describes it in a devotion I read recently:
“Contrast your associations with Christmas night to this description given to us from heaven’s point of view:
I saw a woman… She was pregnant, and she cried out in the pain of labor as she awaited her delivery. Suddenly, I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads. His tail dragged down one-third of the stars, which he threw to the earth. He stood before the woman as she was about to give birth to her child, ready to devour the baby as soon as it was born. She gave birth to a boy who was to rule all nations with an iron rod…
Then there was war in heaven. Michael and the angels under his command fought the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle and was forced out of heaven. This great dragon — the ancient serpent called the Devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world — was thrown down to the earth with all his angels… And when the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the child. But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle. This allowed her to fly to a place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be cared for and protected from the dragon for a time, times, and half a time… Then the dragon… declared war against the rest of her children — all who keep God’s commandments and confess that they belong to Jesus. (Revelation 12)
Eldredge continues: “Startling. Vivid. Disturbing for sure. And an essential part of the story.
I would pay good money to have a nativity scene with this included. Not only would it capture our imagination, I think it would better prepare us to celebrate the holidays and to go on to live in the story Christmas invites us into.
Yes — Christmas is the glow of candlelight on golden straw, and a Baby sleeping in a manger. It is starlight, shepherds in a field and the visit of magi from the east. But Christmas is also an invasion. The kingdom of God striking at the heart of the kingdom of darkness, with violent repercussions.” (Remember the Dragon: Christmas Is an Invasion, John Eldrege, www.faithgateway.com)
God’s Perfect Plan
The more I study the Bible, the more I’m in awe of God’s perfect plan and the way it all unfolds. The fact that God’s instructions for the Jews in the Old Testament would connect to Jesus’ place in the genealogy shows His attentiveness to detail. The idea that Jesus’ birth is described in the last book of the Bible from heaven’s perspective leaves me speechless. Both concepts reinforce the fact that Jesus is the center of God’s plan to redeem people in every generation. The person of Jesus is subtly or overtly woven throughout every plotline contained in the Bible. What a privilege it is to hold His Word in our hands and to be able to study it. What a thrill it is to realize again that His Word is living and active, always revealing new truths.
I pray your Christmas celebrations are more meaningful as you consider Jesus, the Alpha and Omega who humbled Himself and came to earth for our sakes. What a blessing and privilege it is to be included in a love story that started when time began and will continue until it ends.
Click on the link for a Christmas worship moment with Chris Tomlin’s “Joy to the World (Unspeakable Joy).”
What would each of these characters have missed if they’d been too busy, fearful, doubtful, cynical, frugal or inconvenienced to listen to God? Maybe we display their likenesses prominently during the Christmas season because their actions were so contrary to human nature.
“Sweetie, it’s time to put down your iPad and set the table,” I say as I pull dinner out of the oven.
My son sits a few feet away, engrossed in a game on a tiny screen. He doesn’t respond, so I wait a minute and then try again.
“I think you’ve reached your time limit for today. Can you put that down now and set the table?”
After a long pause he looks up, “Sorry, mom, did you say something?”
I make the request again with a hint of irritation in my voice. “Seriously, buddy? This is the third time I’ve asked. Can you please turn that thing off and set the table? Dinner is ready.”
He’s annoyed and a little injured at my sharp response. “Geez, sorry. I didn’t hear you. I just needed to finish that one race or I’d lose all my points.”
The apology feels weak to me, but I sigh and let it go. Finally, he turns off his screen and sets the table, although he’s not pleased about the interruption.
I know this regular scenario with my son is not unique. While it would be easy to pick on kids “these days” or to highlight how the fixation with screens seem to be making people oblivious to their surroundings, these issues are not solely the fault of technology. They are a basic flaw of human nature and have existed since time began. We like to make our own agendas and aren’t fond of having them interrupted. Sadly, one of the main relationships where this happens is between humans and God.
We simply tune out messages we don’t want to hear from Him or we hear them and choose not to respond. Other times, we miss the point and react begrudgingly and with plenty of protesting. Once in a while, we respond and are surprised to discover the joy and fulfillment that come when we put our own agendas aside and trust God instead.
I think that is why the Christmas story is so striking to me. The characters in it don’t do the normal things people do, which is probably why God chose to reveal Himself to them.
Let’s start with Mary. She’s a teenage girl who receives a visit from an angel telling her that her whole life is about to become incredibly messy and complicated. Instead of recoiling in fear or asking questions like: Why me? What am I going to tell my betrothed, Joseph? What will people think of me? She responds by saying: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said…My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.” (Luke 1:38, 46-49, NIV) Her response reveals a trust in God and an acceptance of His will that is both humbling and inspiring. Not only does she listen and respond, she praises Him for using her to accomplish His plan.
Next, we have Joseph, her betrothed. Upon finding out the news that his fiancee is pregnant, he makes plans to divorce her quietly (Jewish betrothal was legally binding, not like engagements today). However, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream and explains that Mary is miraculously pregnant with the long promised Messiah. When Joseph awakens, he doesn’t say: Why me? What are people in the community going to think about me going through with this marriage? Instead “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.” (Matthew 1:24, NIV) Joseph listened and responded to God, going against the accepted and respected norms of his culture and community.
Third, we have the Shepherds watching over their flocks in a field outside Bethlehem. A great company of angels appears to them and tells them that the Savior has been born in Bethlehem. “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had ben told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed.” (Luke 2:15-18a)
It was probably not convenient to pack up and leave the field to find the Christ child. Yet, we don’t see the shepherds stopping to question whether it’s worth the effort. They respond to the angels and are so amazed by what they find that they can’t contain their excitement. After seeing Him, they immediately spread the word about the birth of Jesus. Despite being social outcasts, they don’t hesitate to share the miracle they’ve just witnessed with anyone they encounter.
Finally, we have the Magi. They’ve been watching the stars and travel from the east when they see the one indicating a King has been born. Imagine the time, effort and expense required for these Gentiles to embark on a journey to find the King of the Jews. Although they usually appear in nativity scenes, Scripture tells us that they arrived a while after Jesus was born (commentators range in estimates from a few months to two years). After finding the Messiah, worshipping Him and presenting him with gifts, they have a similar experience to Joseph. “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route” (Matthew 2:12, NIV). Upon waking, they don’t question whether God has spoken– they simply respond by taking action. Their obedience prevents Herod from discovering the whereabouts of the infant King that he plans to murder to eliminate the threat to his throne.
Olive woodcarvings of Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds and Magi are carefully arranged around the infant King lying in a manger atop my family’s piano. As I walk past them this year, I keep thinking about the crucial parts each of them played in the Christmas story. Mary could have been angry, indignant or fearful about being singled out by God. Instead, she responded with humility and obedience, praising God for choosing to use her as part of His plan. Joseph could have let the fear of going against his culture cause him to abandon Mary and miss out on being Jesus’ earthly father. The shepherds could have ignored the angels and rationalized that leaving the fields to find the Christ child in town was too inconvenient and not worth the effort. What an amazing moment in God’s plan they would have missed. The Magi could have appreciated the star, but avoided the massive undertaking of finding the King it heralded. Yet they spared no expense for the simple privilege of worshiping God in the form of a tiny baby.
What would each of these characters have missed if they’d been too busy, fearful, doubtful, cynical, frugal or inconvenienced to listen to God? Maybe we display their likenesses prominently during the Christmas season because their actions were so contrary to human nature. They inspire us to consider anew where we might be ignoring God or failing to respond to His promptings. God can and will use anyone to accomplish His will. If we choose not to listen to Him, He will find other willing hearts. We’ll just miss out on what He wants to do in and through us.
My prayer this Christmas season is that my agenda won’t distract me from God’s promptings. I pray that I’ll be so tuned into His Spirit that I’m ready to act when He nudges me. Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and wise men give us an example that is worth following throughout the year. It was messy, complicated, costly and inconvenient for them to listen and respond, but it changed the course of their lives and all of human history. I think it was worth it.
Will you consider one area where you can tune into God more this season? Once you’ve heard from Him, will you trust Him and respond? Life might not stay neat and orderly, but I think you’ll find being used by God makes all of that seem insignificant by comparison.
Click on the link for a profound moment of celebrating the miracle of Christmas with Bebo Norman’s song “Come and Worship.”
The best way to keep Jesus in the center of the Christmas season is to keep Him central in our daily lives, especially when we feel too busy.
Jesus tells us: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) The many lights that twinkle during the Christmas season celebrate this truth. I like to believe that all lights people hang at this time of year give Him praise, whether they were intended to or not. However, as much as I love this season, I often take my eyes off Jesus. Sometimes the true Light is only in my peripheral vision as I let lesser lights guide me during this hectic time of year.
The Bible reminds us that God’s word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our paths. (Psalm 119:105) However, spending quiet time with the Lord can get pushed aside as other things vie for our attention. So many shiny lights blink with urgency that it’s easy to let them guide us in place of God’s Word.
One of the biggest pitfalls for us is the lure of meeting expectations that abound during this season. All of those real or imagined hopes we try to fulfill lead us down a path to exhaustion. We can spend the season trying to find the right gift, decorate the house exquisitely, bake everyone’s traditional favorites, wear the perfect Christmas outfit, or maintain cherished traditions. The season can become engulfed with fulfilling expectations. However, when we let them be the lamp to our feet and the light to our path, we often end up feeling physically and emotionally depleted.
Every day we have to make a conscious choice: we can choose to light our paths with the world’s expectations or we can choose to light our paths by spending time with the Lord in His Word. The light we choose to lead us influences the direction we go. One path leads to disappointment, the other to joy. The best way to keep Jesus in the center of the Christmas season is to keep Him central in our daily lives, especially when we feel too busy. Even if our formal Bible study groups are on a break for the holidays, our personal times with God can continue. It is the one thing that will keep us in alignment with Him during this busy season and into the New Year. Let’s not let the “urgent” tasks of the moment cause us to sacrifice what is ultimately most important.
Thinking about this reminded me of a letter my husband and I wrote to our boys last Christmas. We’d bought them new Bibles and wanted to explain their importance. Our goal was to help them understand the reason we make reading and studying the Bible a priority in our lives. Here is a short excerpt from that letter:
“Our hope and prayer is that as you get older, you will immerse yourself in God’s word and see that it is the jumping off place for everything in life. It will give you wisdom about your daily choices, your relationships, your future plans, and so much more. It will show you who God is and what He thinks of you. It will show you how to pray and what to pray for. It will equip you with the tools you need to engage in spiritual battle. It will give you confidence to obey God when it would be easier to follow the crowd. It will give you hope no matter what difficulty you find yourself in. It will tell you the truth when the world tells you lies. It will give you a firm foundation for making big life decisions. It will give you wisdom when you don’t know what to do. But, it will only do these things if you take the time to read it, study it, and talk about it with others. As you “marinate” in the Bible, the truth you discover will flavor who you are and impact the world around you. You will further God’s kingdom on earth as you live out the things you learn in the Bible.”
This Christmas season, let’s not let our Bibles gather dust on our shelves as we’re on a break from our usual routines and engrossed in the holiday season. Before you turn on your computer or tablet, check your phone, unfold the newspaper, or click on the TV, try sitting quietly with Him for a few minutes at the beginning of your day.
-Read through the Christmas story in Luke 1 and 2 and Matthew 1 & 2 and prophesies about Jesus in Isaiah 9:2-7, Isaiah 42:1-9, Isaiah 55:1-13 and Micah 7:18-20.
-Review your most recent Bible study workbook and complete the parts you skipped during the busyness of the fall.
-Write a short prayer. Commit your day to God and trust Him to guide you. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you.
The things that seem so urgent will still be there when you’re finished. The ones that need your attention will get done and the others won’t matter quite so much.
If these suggestions sound idealistic and unrealistic because of your hectic schedule, pray that God will multiply your time. He’s ready and waiting to spend time with you and will orchestrate your day to make it possible. All you have to do is ask.
Start a new tradition this Christmas and make time daily to let God’s Word light your path instead of letting expectations be your primary guiding light. Instead being disappointed and exhausted, you’ll find God’s Word leaves you fulfilled and energized. As His peace rests upon you, you’ll bless others in a way that outshines fulfilling even the grandest of expectations.
Click on the link to celebrate the true Light of Christmas with Chris Tomlin’s “Light of the World.”
