Retro Two
23/01/07 10:36
Creating My Own Wilderness - December 1,
2006
Hebrews chapters 3 & 4 in the Bible rock my world. They remind me of the painful story of the early Israelite nation whom God rescued from Egypt and miraculously led through desert and sea to the edge of the “Promised Land” only for them to spy-out the land, decide it was too tough for their miracle-working God to help them conquer, and turn around to spend 40 years wandering aimlessly in the desert until most of their generation died-off and the next generation finally made the right decision and did what they should have done in the first place. (That was a long sentence… - but not as long as the Israelites wandered around and the whole story took to finally unfold!). I read that story about the Israelites and smack my forehead in exasperation at their shortsightedness, and, yet, I can’t look too far over at them without seeing the pattern of my own life.
Hebrews 3 & 4 talk about Christians needing to “enter God’s rest” by faith. For the Israelites, the “Promised Land” represented entering God’s rest. That promised land – the land of Canaan – was (as the original spies had correctly observed) incredibly fertile and full of potential, but also full of formidable enemies. Going into the Promised Land not only meant embracing God’s amazing plans and blessings for the Israelites, it also meant embracing Him as the only Source they had to rely on in defeating enemies that were too strong for them to conquer alone. So entering that place of rest was about trusting in God to fight for them. In other words, the Israelites were to actively enter (by faith) a place of resting in God’s provision.
That sounds ‘wonderful’ and ‘easy’, but for perfectionistic, driven, self-reliant types like me – it sometimes feels like passing emotional / spiritual gallstones (though I’ve never passed one physically and may be making an unfair comparison). Standing at the brink of something that you feel is part of God’s plans for you and potentially the fulfillment of some of your biggest dreams, but that also involves facing seemingly impossible challenges or enemies is daunting. Trusting in God for ‘the new job’, for that ‘most amazing girlfriend / marriage’, for ‘the dream that I have had since I was a kid that almost no one else knows about’ is good when you’re asking for it. It’s sometimes even really cool when God is ‘bringing you out of Egypt’ and setting you free from the old ways of life that kept you enslaved and unable to move into those wonderful new blessings. But trusting God in the face of the giants that stand in your Promised Land is tough. I have often ‘created my own wildernesses’ and turned around to wander in ‘no-where-land’ for a while longer. “Maybe I won’t act on that new job or call those people I’m afraid to talk to right away…”. “Maybe I won’t ask her out, or talk about the things that are really on my mind just yet…”. “Maybe I won’t try out for the team, register for the course, or talk with my family right now…”. How’s it going fellow Israelites?! Nice desert we’re in here, hey?!!
I once heard someone say in reference to this passage in Hebrews that ‘God rests when we try to do the work, and God works for us when we rest in Him’. It’s so true. When I create my own wilderness it usually takes some time, but eventually I see how my attempts to be ‘safe’ or to do the work on my own really just preclude what God wants to do in and through my life. It’s like me struggling for hours to lift a boulder on my own (that is impossible for me to lift alone) while there is a crane operator standing right beside me just waiting for me to move out of the way and give him the ok to pop it over. It’s not that God expects us to be lazy couch-potatoes and He does everything. God just knows reality better than us and wants us to do our parts – actively choosing to believe in Him and taking practical steps to position ourselves for His work (for the Israelites: taking the step forward and walking into the Promised Land) – so that He can do His part (which only He can do).
Hebrews chapters 3 & 4 in the Bible rock my world. They remind me of the painful story of the early Israelite nation whom God rescued from Egypt and miraculously led through desert and sea to the edge of the “Promised Land” only for them to spy-out the land, decide it was too tough for their miracle-working God to help them conquer, and turn around to spend 40 years wandering aimlessly in the desert until most of their generation died-off and the next generation finally made the right decision and did what they should have done in the first place. (That was a long sentence… - but not as long as the Israelites wandered around and the whole story took to finally unfold!). I read that story about the Israelites and smack my forehead in exasperation at their shortsightedness, and, yet, I can’t look too far over at them without seeing the pattern of my own life.
Hebrews 3 & 4 talk about Christians needing to “enter God’s rest” by faith. For the Israelites, the “Promised Land” represented entering God’s rest. That promised land – the land of Canaan – was (as the original spies had correctly observed) incredibly fertile and full of potential, but also full of formidable enemies. Going into the Promised Land not only meant embracing God’s amazing plans and blessings for the Israelites, it also meant embracing Him as the only Source they had to rely on in defeating enemies that were too strong for them to conquer alone. So entering that place of rest was about trusting in God to fight for them. In other words, the Israelites were to actively enter (by faith) a place of resting in God’s provision.
That sounds ‘wonderful’ and ‘easy’, but for perfectionistic, driven, self-reliant types like me – it sometimes feels like passing emotional / spiritual gallstones (though I’ve never passed one physically and may be making an unfair comparison). Standing at the brink of something that you feel is part of God’s plans for you and potentially the fulfillment of some of your biggest dreams, but that also involves facing seemingly impossible challenges or enemies is daunting. Trusting in God for ‘the new job’, for that ‘most amazing girlfriend / marriage’, for ‘the dream that I have had since I was a kid that almost no one else knows about’ is good when you’re asking for it. It’s sometimes even really cool when God is ‘bringing you out of Egypt’ and setting you free from the old ways of life that kept you enslaved and unable to move into those wonderful new blessings. But trusting God in the face of the giants that stand in your Promised Land is tough. I have often ‘created my own wildernesses’ and turned around to wander in ‘no-where-land’ for a while longer. “Maybe I won’t act on that new job or call those people I’m afraid to talk to right away…”. “Maybe I won’t ask her out, or talk about the things that are really on my mind just yet…”. “Maybe I won’t try out for the team, register for the course, or talk with my family right now…”. How’s it going fellow Israelites?! Nice desert we’re in here, hey?!!
I once heard someone say in reference to this passage in Hebrews that ‘God rests when we try to do the work, and God works for us when we rest in Him’. It’s so true. When I create my own wilderness it usually takes some time, but eventually I see how my attempts to be ‘safe’ or to do the work on my own really just preclude what God wants to do in and through my life. It’s like me struggling for hours to lift a boulder on my own (that is impossible for me to lift alone) while there is a crane operator standing right beside me just waiting for me to move out of the way and give him the ok to pop it over. It’s not that God expects us to be lazy couch-potatoes and He does everything. God just knows reality better than us and wants us to do our parts – actively choosing to believe in Him and taking practical steps to position ourselves for His work (for the Israelites: taking the step forward and walking into the Promised Land) – so that He can do His part (which only He can do).
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