Blessings of the Wilderness

I’ve been learning a lot about waiting. This season is full of waiting. Waiting for the next headline to tell us when we can leave our home. Waiting for the next announcement about the number of people affected by this disease. Waiting for “normal” to return. Even little things. Waiting for grades to be posted. Waiting for friends to respond to a text or answer their phone. Waiting for “life to begin again” the list goes on & on.

Reading Lamentations 3 the Lord graciously reminded me that we are not in the waiting alone. He is there. He in this interim time. He is working, strengthening, and creating sometime new. I’m the kind if person who wants to know everything. I want to be in control. I want to be the one making all the call. The Lord’s asking me to give that up. He’s teaching me that it’s okay if I don’t know, because He does. He is teaching me to steward this time of uncertainty because He is working. He is molding. I am growing. He is leading. Lamentations 3 is all about finding hope in God’s mercy. Lamentations is said to be written by Jeremiah. So I wonder if it was easy if challenging for Jeremiah to release His grip and give his suffering of waiting to the Lord. He explains that he is a “man who’s seen affliction.” He as seen darkness and WANTS to live in light. I mean the book is literally called “lamentations” which means lamenting and crying for the deserted city. But in midst of all of Jeremiahs lamenting there’s a shift. He said “yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope because the Lord’s faithful - we do not perish...the Lord is my portion & I will put my hope in him” (Lamentations 3:21-24) Jeremiah reminds us to enjoy this season of waiting, to give thanks in the turmoil, to praise him in the confusion, bless his name in the anguish - FOR WE ARE BEING SHARPENED. Lamentations 3:25-33 really brings this idea home; “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.” Here, the Lord reminds us of the significance of waiting, and the redemption found in the wilderness. Often, In the wilderness of unknowns doubt surrounds you - this is when the devil prowls and makes us question where God is and how He is working. Lamentations begs to remind us that every single season happens for a reason and God will see you through to the other side. It is in these moments of self doubt, searching, and confusion where Christ reveals JUST HOW MUCH we need him. Because the thing is you will not know how to fight the devil without the word of God. When we feel overwhelmed and overcome the only place to find weapons, advice, and peace. Is in the arms of the father and the words of His scripture. The devil will try to get us to DOUBT who we are and the image God give us. But Gods word is ALWAYS true. Nothing can stand against it. And here in his word He whispers; my mercies never end; I will show compassion; I will not reject you; my faithful love is ABUNDANT for you. The will of God is found in the wilderness. The strength of the Lord is found in the wilderness. The promises of Jesus are found in the wilderness. Faith is made secure when we look at the face of the enemy and say “lord come save me” and in his gracious & kind love: He will (Psalm 116). I’m learning that the waiting is worth it. The unknowns point me to the Father. The wilderness is full of blessings. The Lord’s faithful love never leaves nor forsakes us. He invites us into times of waiting. He invites us to sit at the foot of His cross and wait quietly for his salvation for come. He promises to bring redemption. He promises to bring new mercies. So I choose to recognize that even in the waiting, He is working in me, so He can do something new through me. He is giving me all that I need so I can do all that He has called me to do. “You champion my case and redeem my life” (lamentations 3:58). ^this is a promise. When we give Him everything we are and lay our life down in the wilderness of the unknowns - He rescues us from the pit and breathes NEW LIFE in and throughout us. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for the waiting. He is REFINING us and sharpening us into sons & daughters of glory equipped to carry his truth among the nations to set the captives free and bring justice to the afflicted and provide hope for the hopeless. This is what following the Lord looks like. It’s not peaches & roses & it was never supposed to be. Because in midst of it all we know that when we

“Call on His name, from the depths of the pit he hears our pleas. He does not ignore our cry for relief. Whenever he call he says “do not be afraid!” (Lamentations 3:55-57) So man, I pray the final prayer in lamentations, “Lord bring us back. Bring us back to yourself so we can return. Renew our days. Make us new. We give it all to you” (5:21-22) Also kinda cool because right now, about 2,200 years ago everyone was WAITING for Jesus to rise again without even realizing it. This waiting would bring the uttermost greatness. But I bet the disciples didn’t really get it right away either. Imagine their thoughts as they sat in their rooms - locked up like we are now - probably feeling pretty purposeless and lost because the Man they have everything up for was brutally killed right before their eyes. Little did they know (or realize at the time) that the Lord was SO CLOSE to blessing them beyond compare: in just a few hours He would rise again and promise new hopes, purpose, and dreams. Talk about the wilderness of unknowns preparing for a new, greater thing.

So hallelujah & amen for the waiting because we KNOW Christ is preparing us for something NEW and HIGHER and BEST.