Can you find hope in the midst of your wilderness? Your wilderness may be a financial struggle in your business where the nation's devastating economic struggle is choking the life out of you. Or maybe your wilderness experience is a need for healing in your body or reconciliation with a family member. Maybe your home based business is stuttering and not working causing you immense stress.
Can God prepare a table in your wilderness? Is there hope?
If you look in the Old Testament, you see Moses leading his people to the promised land. The children of Israel whined and cried and complained amidst their struggles. What did God do? He provided water, bread with the manna and meat from the Quail that dropped from the sky. They continued to grumble even amidst such miraculous provision and missed out on the greater things God had planned.
We can learn from their experience and walk with a different mind set.
Because of the finished work of the Cross of Jesus Christ, God is offering us a seat at the wedding table. Jesus once and for all offered Himself up in our place for sin, enabling us to walk in new life. Jesus said He came to give us life, and life more abundantly. That sounds like a table, like a feast that we can experience amidst our struggles.
Here are some keys to find that table in your wilderness:
1)Be Ready For God To Move How do you prepare? You look at every situation in your wilderness through the eyes of faith. You look for God's presence, and His will. The best way to describe this is you assess every circumstance according to God's Promises. So, for example, you
have a lack of finances. You asses that situation with the Word of God that says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33).
Maybe you are lonely, or you feel all alone. You look at that situation with God's promise: "I will never leave you or abandon you." (Hebrews 13:5)
You might be faced with a family problem or a struggle where you don't know what to do or where to turn. So you replace that anxiety with the Word of God which says "Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)
2) Be Prepared For the Battle In Ephesians 6:10-20, you find the keys to face the battles. You might be facing something in the midst of your wilderness that is crawling, consuming, chewing you...like the locust in the book of Joel in Chapter 1. You may feel like the battles
are ravaging your strength and hope. So what do you do?
First, you stand, and be strong
in the Lord. Know
WHO'S power you have. "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4) "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil 4:13).
Secondly, you have to know your enemy and know who you are fighting. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers,
the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12)
You are going to have to do battle in the spiritual realm.
To fight in this demonic realm, you have to maintain a battle stance with the whole armor of God as described in Ephesians 6. The main part of battle is prayer.
Prayer is the fight you can win! In addition, your armor is not
just defensive but also offensive. You have the Word of God to cut through your struggles and pierce the life out of the worries you face in your wilderness!
3) Be Persistent To Stay In Relationship With GodA myriad of things keep us from seeking God and maintaining that relationship which, in turn, keeps us away from the table. In the parable in Luke 14:16-24, we read how a man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. When the banquet was ready and the table set, he sent his servant to tell the guests that the feast was ready. But each one invited began making their excuses.
So this was one incredible wedding feast! I don't know about you but when someone in my family gets married it is one incredible event. It's filled with laughter, a sense of belonging to a great family as stories are relived from the past....It's filled with good food, good drink, good friends....A real party worth remembering!
That is what God is offering every day! We are invited every day to a feast at the table of His Son, no matter what is going on in our lives.
The key amidst your wilderness is your relationship with God. It's the main ingredient to experiencing that table in the wilderness.
As you see from this parable, each one had an excuse.
One had a piece of land he wanted to cultivate. Sometimes in the midst of trying to provide for our family, getting up early in the morning with a list of things to do as we tend to our "land", our business, we miss those quiet times alone with God. We miss out on soaking in the Word before facing the giants in our work.
Another man in this parable had five oxen. He was toiling, focused on making some money! Sometimes you can get caught up in the rat race of life. You are so focused on what you want and what you need that stress takes over. Then comes the fear and anxiety as you fixed your eyes on what you lack, rather than WHO you have in Christ.
The third person in this parable just got married and has lots going on with this new venture. I think this represents how the responsibilities with our families can take a toll on us emotionally and physically. Your children may be rebelling or you
have strife in your marriage, and it all demands your time and strength. Instead of running to God, you let the trials run over you and your relationship with Him is
left on the back burner.
So in the midst of your wilderness, will you seek the Lord Jesus Christ and maintain that relationship?
I believe that in this time we are living, when the economy is floundering, that God's people can flourish. They are getting out of debt and experiencing massive success in their business. While other people are surviving, God's people are thriving reaching new heights in their family life, and business.....
God is raising up an army of believers who are stepping up to the plate of His table. They are finding peace and provision amidst the wilderness. When others ask them how, they are quick to give God glory. Then, they take them by the hand and lead them to the banquet hall of God's table of love, mercy, and forgiveness.
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