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“Enlarge the site of your tent, and let your tent curtains be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your ropes, and drive your pegs deep. For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will dispossess nations and inhabit the desolate cities.” Isaiah 54:2-3
When Moses led the people of Israel into the wilderness they were unsure of what was to come. They were beaten up, abused and ready for a change. The past glory of these people had long gone. Memories of Joseph and the favor God’s people experienced were just stories handed down from grandparents. There was little hope within the boundaries of Egypt, but God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac and Joseph seemed forgotten as well.
When the people of God were finally delivered from their physical bondage they entered the wilderness and once again pursued God’s promise. After forty years of wandering the wilderness, living in tents and learning to follow God’s commands, they entered into the Promised Land. The nation grew physically and powerfully and, under King David, became a dominant force in the Mediterranean world.
Hundreds of years later, Isaiah uses the analogy of the tent to encourage the people of Israel. Sin had entered the camp and the glory of Israel once again disappeared. Isaiah reminded the people of the time when they lived in tents. During those times of wilderness wanderings, as families grew, tents would have to be expanded to accommodate new members. All this was done in hopes of a new era of God’s working in their lives. Now, Isaiah was telling them that a new, exciting adventure was about to happen.
Isaiah was referring to the church and the coming of Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus new power and blessing would follow those that grow deeper in Christ. As Christ followers we are empowered to move out of the slavery of our sin and into a life of power and excellence. As we grow deeper in Christ and leave our lives of sin and bad habits He will help us move into areas of our lives we may never have thought possible.
Because of Jesus, we can be blessed as we draw closer to Him and move into uncharted territory. Don’t allow the slavery of your past to keep you from growing deeper in Christ’s love. Through Him alone you can experience joy and peace like you never thought possible. Don’t let negative thoughts about yourself keep you from experiencing Christ’s joy!
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, the mistakes of my past and the pain of my sin is ever before me. Empower me through your Holy Spirit to leave the crippling power of my past and trust you for the new challenges of the day before me. Thank you for loving me and forgiving me. Help me grow in you so that I may live a life of joy and excellence. Amen.
When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on…Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it…” Deuteronomy 1:6-8 (NLT)
The Israelites were on their way to the Promised Land! After years of captivity they were going to finally receive the land that God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Joseph. It wasn’t an easy journey. The people grew tired of setting up and taking down camp. They missed the comfort of Egypt, even though they forgot about the abusive pain that they endured while there.
Soon they came to Mount Sinai and things got better. They had food provided to them daily, the Lord kept them in the shade of His cloud by day and they had the pillar of fire to keep them warm on the cool desert evenings. For two years, although they were surrounded by wilderness, they lived in comfort on the mountain.
Soon the word of the Lord came to them. You’ve stayed here long enough. This mountain-top experience has to end so that you can receive the real promise, the ultimate blessing of the land I have prepared for you. Pull up stakes. Head into the Wilderness so that you can receive something much better than you have now.
The message is much the same for us today. We have dreams. We have things we’d like to do. But we grow comfortable in our surroundings and don’t want to venture out. After all, who’d choose to be in a wilderness when we can enjoy the mountains.
If we want to receive all that God has for us it is impossible to stay in our comfort zone. But often it is easier to stay where we are. We don’t like hardship. We want to be comfortable and experience all the good things of life and God. But growing doesn’t come when we are comfortable. Growth, true Spiritual Growth, comes during those wilderness experiences when God teaches us to trust in Him.
Our Heavenly Father uses the hard times of life to teach us lessons we must learn to glorify Him. His goal is, and always will be, to give us the things we desire, to show us His good and perfect will. Until we are ready to leave our comfort zone and venture into the wilderness we will never experience the promises God has for us.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father. I confess to you that I far rather prefer comfort and mountain top experiences than I do the hardship of the wilderness. I know that I need to travel through the wilderness in order to receive all you have for me. Please give me the courage to step out, to get off my mountain and follow you. Strengthen me as I go through the wilderness and help me trust in You. Amen.
She was thinking to herself, “If I can just put a finger on his robe, I’ll get well.” Jesus turned – caught her at it. Then he reassured her: “Courage, daughter. You took a risk of faith, and now you’re well.” The woman was well from then on. Matthew 9:21-22
It had been twelve long agonizing years. Nothing the doctors could do to help. In her day medicine was far less effective than it is today. Not only was there physical fatigue from the constant blood loss, there was the religious and social stigma as well. She may as well have been a leper! According to the Law she was unclean.
We only know her as the woman ‘with the issue of the blood’! A few short verses and she’s gone. Just a blip on the screen of Scripture. But there is something that I admire about her and that is her tenacity. I’m not sure many of us can really comprehend the social, emotional, spiritual and of course physical struggle this woman must have endured throughout those 12 years.
It would have been easy to give up. No one would have blamed her if she had turned into an angry, bitter woman, yet we see none of that. It would have been completely understandable if she’d turned her back on God in anger for the ‘injustice’ that fell upon her.
Something drove her to that street that day. Something deep down inside her never let her give up hope that someday, somehow God would heal her. That’s courage. That is quiet strength. The refusal to let anything keep us from pursuing God’s best for us, even when all the odds seem stacked against us.
Don’t give up. John Eldredge talks about ‘the great wound’ as being that event or events in our past that have hurt us deeply and can keep us from trusting God completely. Just as He did with this woman, Jesus has come to heal the wound that each of us bears. By His touch the wound can be healed.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I thank you that you know the pain that I’ve been bearing for so long. I thank you that even during those times when I feel all alone you are there, waiting for me to come into your arms. I reach out to you today. I touch the fringes of your robe and ask you to heal me. I love you. Thank you for loving me. Amen
