Blog 2, In The Wilderness

Blog # 2 In The Wilderness

            Do you ever catch yourself thinking that perhaps your Christian experience seems contrary to certain ideas held to be either “personal directives,” or implied “promises” in Scripture?  Do you find hard to resist feelings of envy at Christians who seemingly get to walk on streets of gold before they go to Heaven?  Why do some Christians preach and boast of excellent health, wealth, earthly happiness and good fortune, when these “blessings” don’t seem to be evident in the incarnate life of Jesus? Or Paul? Or Jeremiah?  Well, if you suffer from or wonder at all about this, you are not alone.  This subject is not as uncommon today as one might think.

              This issue became a topic of discussion not long ago when John wrote Dana that he felt perplexed by the seeming disparity.

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John wrote:

Hey Dana

I’m at work and haven’t punched in yet. This has bothered me for some time and I’m asking for your belief and opinion.

It seems as if the troubles never stop and we never reach that place of John 10:10 or Mal 3:10.

While listening to a media personality this AM on my way to work, the person was asking the listeners why are they still in the wilderness when God wants them to move on. You’ve heard the saying, “You didn’t get it right yet, take another trip around the mountain.”

I’m tired of the wilderness and if I’m taking trips around the mountain I want it to stop.

The media personality said, “Our actions in the wilderness help to keep us there.”

When you have time, can you please speak to this?

Yours for the Harvest

John

                                                           

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      The following Scripture passages were offered for consideration.

      Deuteronomy 1:1-10

      These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. ² It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. ³ In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them, ⁴ after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. ⁵ Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, ⁶ “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’ ⁹ “At that time I said to you, ‘I am not able to bear you by myself. ¹⁰ The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven.” ESV

      John 10:10 ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ESV

      Malachi 3:10  ¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. ESV

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Dana responded

     Brother John, we live in the wilderness.  For now, it's our home.

     When looking at Deuteronomy 1:1-10, we must be careful to not overload the historical context with too much future application.  In the Exodus of Moses' time, the text(s) refer to a literal time in history, to a real people in that time, and to a real movement of that people from Egypt to the land of promise which God gave to them.  God's commandment to move on was to them, not to us (in particular), unless He has specifically spoken to us with the command to move somewhere or the other.  We can make general applications to our lives from historical passages, but must keep in mind that the specifics (unless it is law--like the 10 Commandments, etc.,) only applied directly and specifically to the Children of Israel in that day and time, and today applies "generally" to us, to the degree we can draw parallels.

     The Children of Israel had been fighting literal, terrifying, and very dangerous "giants," prior to God telling them to move on.  The Amorites, many think were relatives of the Nephilim (Genesis 6) and Og, who was mentioned in the passage, had a bed that was something like 18 feet long!!!!  The Children of Israel had subdued a formidable enemy, and on the strength of that, God was telling them to go on and take the land.  Many of them perished in the wilderness, because after several great victories over God's enemies, they cowered at the thought of more giants (when the spies went out.)  God had given them deliverance after deliverance and yet they doubted He would go with them when things got tough. 

      But back to my point, God had planned and set in motion His plan for Israel to be in its own land that He had given them (real and particular people, place and time.)  They had to move on from the mountain if they were to fulfill God's plan.  We are not in that exact same situation.  We speak of being in the "wilderness," but in reality, we are using the term as a metaphor to describe a less than pleasant place other than where we wish we could be, or feel we should be. But we are not where they were at that time.  We may feel like there are similarities, and we may draw spiritual connections, but we are not fighting real giants or pagan hordes who want to kill us. At least not yet....

                       

 

      This may not be much solace, but I'm not at all sure we can will, or do, or even pray our way out of the "wilderness."  Jesus told us that in this world we will have trouble.  Paul speaks often of tribulation as part and parcel of the Christian life.  Jesus said that we would be hated because He was hated first, and as His followers (I'm paraphrasing) we dare not expect less, and, we know that Satan hates the Church (at large) and individual followers of Jesus (in particular).  He is going to make sure our lives are as difficult as possible, or, he is going to make sure that our lives are fraught with thorns, hardships, "many dangers, toils and snares."  In other words, he will keep the "wilderness" constantly growing around us while we are going through this earthly pilgrimage to our "promised land," the promised and expected new heavens and earth and the new Jerusalem.  The victory is not escaping the wilderness, but not letting it beat us--not let it make us cower at the thought of giants.  Almost every time we encounter giants in the Scriptures, they are always getting killed--and by swarthy little Jewish guys at that.

     As to John 10's "abundant life" and Malachi's poured out blessing seen in light of tithing, I personally think they are matters of perception.  Look at Revelation 3:17 (Laodicea) Jesus says, "...For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked."  ESV

     Our lives are that in reverse!  We may see ourselves as "...wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked," when in fact, we are blessed beyond measure.  We don't miss many meals.  We don't sleep on the street.  We are not dying of some dread disease in some jungle hell-hole.  We are not wearing orange jump suits and getting our heads cut off on video by Isis. Life may not be to our liking, but we "...have not yet resisted to the point of shedding [our] blood."  Hebrews 12:4 ESV 

When I think of the conditions in which many have to live (and I've seen a good bit in my travels in Latin America) our disappointments, hardships, and broken dreams aren't even on the scale of the difficulties with which a significant part of the world has to deal, day in and day out.  Going to the 3rd World is an enlightening experience.  Most of the people, who, a hundred years ago, would have spent their careers in a travelling freak show because of their hideous deformities, are now fixed up by corrective surgeries at birth in our country.  No so in Honduras or Southern Mexico.  Some of the horrors with which people have to live are stark, especially when seen through a pair of US eyes behind progressive, polarized corrective lenses surrounded by titanium frames.  We can drive to church in a heated and air conditioned car, instead of having to lie in the dirty street and cry out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."

 

     I think we have abundant blessing and abundant life.  It's just that we live in Babylon, where too much is never enough, and even many of our spiritual leaders wag excessive prosperity in our faces like there is something wrong with a Christian who isn't a millionaire without a care in the world.  What about our brothers and sisters in the mid-East who are in the throes of persecution on a horror level the likes of our 1st century Christian predecessors?  I'm not sure that much of the current teachings would hold much water with the Christians being murdered by Isis.  Are their "actions keeping them in the wilderness?"

     One thing that helps me when I get tired of the wilderness, is a song from the old Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye Christmas movie, "White Christmas."  Bing and Rosemary Clooney sing a duet where they sing about the importance of counting their blessings. It's a good exercise, actually.  Take a piece of paper and just start writing down everything that comes to mind for which you can thank God.  For food--break it down even more, for the great steak or whatever you had for dinner last Thursday night.  For cookies.  For good coffee. For clothing to wear. For comfortable shoes. For an indoor toilet. For having a ride to get places instead of having to walk. For your wife. For your friends--name them one by one. For all the people who love you and pray for you that you might not even know. For not being hooked to a dozen tubes in some cancer ward, with constant pain and no hope this side of glory.  For the Word of God.  For the ability to read the Word of God.  For not being thrown into prison for reading the Word of God. 

     And, just keep writing them down.  If you apply yourself, you'll fill up more than one page.  Sooner or later you might find that life in the wilderness isn't near as bad as it could be, and in fact it's actually pretty good, and that we are blessed beyond measure and that our life is really abundant.  Our life is abundant because we know Jesus, and by His grace, we are not Ruby.  Is the wilderness in which you find yourself better or worse than the wilderness in which she lived, and by now, most likely died?

     We are still in the fox hole, my Brother.  It's dirty, and when it rains it fills up with water, and there's shrapnel and bullets whizzing by our heads when we try to peer out.  But, for better or worse we are in it together.  I pray for you and you pray for me.  And until God gives us orders to vacate and charge, there is, thankfully, a measure of security there.

      I don't know if what I've said resonates or not.  Really do make an exercise of counting your blessings and writing them down.  There's a book I remember Rev. Alistair Begg recommending in one of his Truth For Life Broadcasts, called "Against All Hope," by Armando Valladares. The striking thing I remember about what was said about it is that the author, who, at the time was imprisoned in one of Castro's worst prisons, reported hearing the condemned Christian men being taken out to be executed, yelling, "Viva Christo Rey!"  Christ the King lives, or Long live Christ the King.  They yelled this as they were being marched to the firing squad.  It got the author’s attention, and so troubled the guards that they began gagging the men before taking them out to be shot.  Again, is your wilderness better or worse than theirs'?

       We do have abundant life, John, if only we can see it through eyes of faith, and not those of the material world around us. Not through the eyes of Babylon, which only makes us focus on what we don't have that everybody else does. It may not be the life we choose or desire, but it is what God has ordained for us in order to make us look more like Jesus. And it is the remains of sin in our natures that makes us chafe and rebel and grumble when God chips off the coal in order to make us diamonds.  And, if we could escape the wilderness, perhaps that which is outside of the wilderness might end up being worse.  Father really does know best.

        You are in my prayers, John.

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Post Script by John before publishing:

 

Perhaps there is room for more discussion at another time on this topic.