Preparations of the Heart

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8

We've been taking a hard look at God's purposes in the wilderness. I think it all boils down to preparation of the heart. After 400 years of slavery, the Israelites needed to rediscover their God and learn to follow Him. They experienced His miraculous deliverance from Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea. But they also needed to experience Him in the wilderness before they would be ready to enter the Promised Land. God wanted them to have a right picture of Him so they would follow with whole hearts into the new land. Unfortunately, as we've seen, many of them still missed it. We don't want to make the same mistakes. So how did God reveal Himself in the wilderness?

1. He led and protected His people. Exodus 13:21 says "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night." The pillar of cloud gave the people something visible to follow and provided shade to protect them from the hot sun. The pillar of fire at night provided light to their path. He was always with them. All they needed to do was follow in the shade or light of His presence.

2. He provided for their needs. Psalm 78:15-16 says, "He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers." And verses 23-25, "Yet He had commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven, had rained down manna on them to eat, and given them the bread of heaven. Men ate angels' food; He sent them food to the full." This not only speaks of God's ample provision for physical needs, but spiritual as well. Jesus is the "living water" and "bread of life" that we so desperately need.

3. He purified their hearts. Psalm 78:32-35 says, "In spite of this, they still sinned, and did not believe in His wondrous works. Therefore, their days He consumed in futility, and their years in fear. When He slew them, they they sought Him; and they returned and sought earnestly for God. Then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer." God allowed them to experience the consequences of their sin and many died. But some turned from their sin, sought the Lord and remembered who He was.

In summary, God was preparing His people to enter the land of destiny by revealing His character and purifying their hearts in the desert. We, too, need to prepare our hearts so we don't miss what God has for us.

My Tuesday morning Bible study at church is going through the book of Matthew. When we reached Chapter 3, I got a new perspective on verses 11-12. John the Baptist is speaking to the the Pharisees and Sadducees - religious leaders of the day. He says, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He (Jesus) who is coming after me is mightier than I , whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." I had always thought this passage was talking about judgment, but it is really about purification. The definition of chaff is "worthless residue". God wants to clean out the residue that's clogging up our hearts and lives. While "chaff" can be sin, it can also just be worthless worldly stuff that clouds our vision and keeps us from seeing God clearly. Jesus wants to purify us and gather the "wheat" from our lives - the part that is useful and has eternal value. According to Scripture, this is connected to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Jon Courson says, "Many people want the power of the Spirit, but they are not interested in the fire, the purity. The baptism of Jesus in the Spirit is a baptism of fire - which speaks of purity. It's a dying to self, a cleansing of motives. Many folks want that power, but they don't want a changed lifestyle." Whoa - how's that for a convicting statement?

In the wilderness, God proves to us that He is our Pathfinder, Protector, Provider and Purifier. We can trust Him to take us into new spiritual territory, even if we don't know exactly what that looks like. We don't need to have all the answers, but we do need to fully follow Him and not settle for the familiar side of the river. Then we will be ready to cross the Jordan.

Who Do You Follow?

"He (Jesus) said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Matthew 16:15

I keep planning to move on, but it seems God has more to teach me about the wilderness - perhaps because it's hard to move forward unless we understand what's holding us back. In previous posts, we have looked at sins that keep us from "wholly following" the Lord. While it's good to acknowledge and confess sin, I feel like there's more beneath the surface - kind of like treating the symptoms of a disease without addressing the cause. Maybe there's something deeper God wants us to see.

Why did Joshua and Caleb "wholly follow" the Lord when the rest of the congregation did not? My guess is that they knew WHO they followed and caught His vision for their lives. Wholly following implies complete trust. In order to have complete trust you have to know the person in whom your trust is placed. I've heard it said that our image of God is the most important thing in the world. Most of us don't have a very accurate picture of God. It's easily distorted by our own background and biases. So how can we follow a God we don't know very well into a new land? The answer is, it's hard and many of us opt to stay in the wilderness.

I just finished reading a book called The Shack, which I highly recommend. But watch out - it might just blow the walls off the box that you've placed God in, or at least push them out a bit. One principle it reaffirmed to me was rules vs. relationship; it's easier to live by a set of rules than in a dynamic relationship. At one point, the main character is having a discussion with God about this very thing. Mack says "It feels like living out of relationship - you know, trusting and talking to you - is a bit more complicated than just following rules". He goes on to describe "rules" as things like doing good, going to church, reading the Bible, etc. God affectionately chides him saying, "Mackenzie...the Bible doesn't teach you to follow rules. It is a picture of Jesus. While words may tell you what God is like and even what he may want from you, you cannot do any of it on your own. Life and living is in him and in no other." And later God says "it is true that relationships are a whole lot messier than rules, but rules will never give you answers to the deep questions of the heart and they will never love you." (excerpts from pg. 197-198). I would also add that they will never lead you to the promised land. Only Jesus can do that.

The Israelites experienced this first-hand. In Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments were given to Moses. Jon Courson says that as "a representative, a picture, a type of the Law, Moses brought the people to the edge of the Promised Land, but it would be Joshua, whose name is the Old Testament name for Jesus, who would actually bring them into the Promised Land." Galatians 3:24 says, "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." We will never enter a life of abundance by trying to follow the "rules". That leads to self-effort and legalism. Living by the Spirit is being in constant relationship with God. It is following a living person - Jesus Christ. Granted, God is mysterious and His ways are unpredictable at times, so this can be scary for us control freaks. But He is so wonderful. Where's our sense of adventure?

Side note: Last week I said that pursuing the abundant life requires purpose and discipline. By that I did not mean that it depends on our works. A better word for discipline would have been "self-control" because we have seen how sins of self-gratification can shut out the Holy Spirit. And without a sense of purpose (an idea of where we're going and setting goals to get there) we are prone to wander. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said "Not all who wander are lost". To which I say, that may be true, but you're still not going anywhere.

God does not force Himself upon us. We have to open ourselves to His vision and leading. To trust Him we need to know Him.

Thought Questions: What is your picture of God? Take some time to write it out. As Graham Cooke would say, "Is it time for an upgrade?" Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal any misconceptions you might have. Let Him speak to you about what He's really like. This may require a new perspective on some "old" Scriptures.

Wilderness Wisdom

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6

I promise we will get to the banks of the Jordan soon, but we can't afford to miss the lessons of the wilderness. Sometimes God allows - even designs - dry, difficult times in our lives for a purpose. Why did the Israelites have to journey through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land? Why not arrive instantly after deliverance from Egypt? Granted, God did not intend for them to wander in the desert for 40 years, but He did want them to experience it for a time. What was the purpose?

I believe Deuteronomy Chapter 8 answers this question. In 1999, God gave me this chapter during a difficult season in my Christian walk. In 2006, He brought me back to it during a women's retreat and spoke to me about the "promised land" in my own life. Looking out over the beautiful mountain scenery at the Applegate retreat center, I realized how different God's ways and timing can be from ours. I would not have chosen to wait seven years. A lot of the time, it felt like "wandering", but God was accomplishing a deeper purpose.

Here are a few passages from Deuteronomy 8 that will give us a picture of His heart for us in the wilderness:

"Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD." Deut 8:1-4 (emphasis mine).

The chapter goes on to describe the abundance of the promised land and warns the people not to forget who brought them there. There's a tendency when we come into a good place to think "My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth." (Deut 8:17). This is very dangerous. God says "And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covanent which He swore to your fathers , as it is this day." (Deut. 8:18) Of course, this is not just referring to material wealth, but any type of richness and blessing in our lives.

So what are God's purposes in the wilderness, the dry, difficult times in our lives? Based on the scriptures above, I believe it is to:

• Humble us
• Test us (show us what's in our hearts, whether or not we will obey)
• Create a deep hunger in our hearts
• Teach us that only God Himself can satisfy our hunger

As Jon Courson says, "Too often, we don't crave the Bread of the Word or the Bread of Life because we're not hungry. There's a progression seen here: My reaction in the wilderness makes me hungry for righteousness. So I go to church once again, have devotions once more, exchange Newsweek for the Word, turn off talk radio and listen to teaching tapes. But this doesn't happen until I'm hungry. And I don't know I'm hungry until I'm in the wilderness. It's all part of the program."

A life of abiding and advancing in the Spirit will not just fall into our laps. We will not get there by wandering aimlessly and refusing to take steps of faith. It requires purpose and discipline. We need to get HUNGRY for God. He designs it this way. Otherwise, we have the tendency to take the credit. When we are humbled, tested, hungry and seeking, we know that we live by the words of the Lord. Then He can bless us, empower us, and move through us. His glory is safe with us.

Thought Questions: Mentally review wilderness seasons in your own life. What did God teach you? Did it bring you to a place of greater hunger for Him? Did you allow that hunger to propel you towards the promised land or let it fade with time? Where are you on the journey now?