Follow the Rocks…….

God is with us in the waiting….He is not only WITH US…He is intimately desirous of connecting with us to bring us to a deeper sense of trust and confidence in Him as our faithful Abba Father. He is the one who can guide us and direct us, open our mind to truth and justice and bring us wisdom and insight.

In my life there is a progression in my faith walk when I find myself in a spiritual desert.
When I am obedient and seeking Him, that progression draws me toward my Abba
Father, but when I am drifting and allowing wrong thinking to overtake me, I feel far
away and alone. The downward progression usually starts in my thought life-I get
discouraged, I feel alone, I wonder what I am supposed to be learning in the
desert….quickly I forget all that God has done for me in the past, I doubt His
faithfulness, I second guess myself and start to feel insecure. The enemy sure knows
my weakness. Listening to the wrong voices creates a tidal wave of wrong thinking. For
me, this type of thinking is irrational and does NOT match the reality of my intimate
relationship with my Abba Father. When I choose the path of waiting on God and
remembering my identity in Him and how faithful He has been in my life, I am drawn to
His word. In His word, I find joy, peace and rest in the midst of my trial. I find truth and I
meet my creator and learn more about His character. I am challenged to listen, trust,
obey and wait. As I seek God and focus on Christ and all that I am learning in the
desert, I am no longer afraid and I begin to cherish my alone time with God in the
desert.

Think about a time in your life when you were struggling and you were having a hard
time of wandering in your own personal desert…..is your tendency to draw near to God
and wait on Him or do you tend to wander?????

Last week, my husband, Rick and I were hiking in the Utah wilderness-a desert environment
of sorts. We decided one morning to hike into Chesler Park-a trail in the Needles
section of Canyonlands. From everything I had read about this hike, it was sure to be a
challenge, but we were ready for the adventure. We traded off as we hiked…I led for
awhile and my husband led for awhile-….My husband is a direction genius, a natural
born tracker, but I learned something very interesting as we hiked. When we entered an
area where the trail disappeared, his tendency was to “wing it” and to just keep walking,
stepping over dead tree branches and climbing over boulders….eventually we would
get back on the trail. He is a natural born leader, confident and steadfast and he always
got us back to the trail. My tendency when we came to a place where the trail
disappeared was to stop and look around for the trail markers…..markers are stacks of
rock piled high and they are called cairns. These cairns are placed in strategic positions
to guide you along the safest and most direct route to the destination. There is nothing
wrong with the “winging it” technique but it may not be the safest or the most direct. As
we hiked and my husband was leading, I started to say, “follow the rocks, don’t step
over the logs!”…..we laughed about it and continued on our way. I kept thinking about
the word picture of following the rocks and resisting the temptation to step over the logs
and it hit me. In my life, what if the “rocks” represent the path that God has chosen for
me and the “stepping over the logs” path is the way I sometimes chose to go without
consulting God-the one who ultimately knows the BEST path for me to take. Both paths
may lead to the same destination, but following the rocks is safer, more secure and
more direct. I pondered this idea and another thought hit me…Jesus is my ROCK, my
foundation, the light that guides my life and if I truly believe that and trust in him for
everything, then I hope and pray that as I grow and mature, I chose to follow the ROCK,
rather that wander in the wilderness stepping over the logs, following the wrong voices,
trusting in my own way, forgetting to talk to God about my plans.
Follow the rocks and don’t step over the logs!

God’s way is to guide us one step at a time. When in the desert we feel dry, alone,
unprotected, like God no longer cares about us, we ask why? We wonder where He is?
What is the purpose of our suffering? But He is always there if we look for Him. One
moment at a time. Don’t waste your suffering.

The Judean wilderness may have been for David a time of wandering and wondering.
He had been anointed as king. He had serve Saul well as he waited for his actual power
as King to be assigned to him and then he found himself running from King Saul who
wanted him killed. David was caught in the “land between”. The land between is any
space or place that you find yourself BETWEEN where you have been and where you
are going. It might be a place where you are waiting on God to answer a desperate
prayer. It may be a dry desert or a trial that you are going through.

Here are a few encouraging quotes I found meaningful from a book by Jeff Manion
called “The Land Between”.
Think about these words and see if you have felt any of these feelings…..
“Desperate prayers may be an indication of spiritual health rather than a sign of spiritual
deficiency.”
“The wilderness where faith can thrive is the very desert where it can dry up and die if
we are not watchful.”
“Our response to God while in the Land Between is what will determine whether our
journey through this desert will result in deep, positive growth or spiritual decline.”
“The habits of the heart that we foster in this space—our responses and reactions—will
determine whether the Land Between results in spiritual life or spiritual death. We
choose.”
What if life’s transitions are there to remind us that God is present before, during, and
after these periods?
Maybe God gives us these “wilderness experiences” to rest, revive, renew and
replenish our souls. May He is desperate for a reconnection with us? We may see the
journey as “the mountains are too high!”, “there are walls too high to climb on every
side!” “where is God when I need Him most?”
Maybe God is waiting for us to focus on the road ahead but maybe He wants us to
focus on the blessings right in front of us?
Do we live like we believe?
Jesus is the way the truth the life!!!! He is our ROCK!
Follow the rocks and don’t step over the logs!!!

God’s way is to guide us one step at a time. When in the desert we feel dry, alone,
unprotected, like God no longer cares about us, we ask why? We wonder where He is?
What is the purpose of our suffering? But He is always there if we look for Him. One
moment at a time. Don’t waste your suffering.

En Gedi is one of only two fresh water springs located on the western shore of the Dead
Sea, at the edge of the Judean Wilderness. Ein Gedi is where God directed David when
he was desperately fleeing from Saul. God protected David and answered his prayers.
David writes Psalm 34 during the time he was running from Saul and found himself in
the middle of a dangerous experience with the Philistines in Gath. He wrote this Psalm
as an encouragement for himself, for his own men and for us today to give us guidelines
to help us keep out of tight situations and live a life that pleases God. This might have
been David’s encouragement for us to “follow the rocks and do not step over the logs”!

Psalm 34
“I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart.
Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.
I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
He freed me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with
joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened ; he saved me from all my troubles.
For the angel of the Lord is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they
need.
Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack
no good thing.
Come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the Lord.
Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous?
Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies!
Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right; his ears are open to their cries for
help.
But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil; he will erase their memory from
the earth.
The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each
time .
For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!
Calamity will surely destroy the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be
punished.
But the Lord will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will
be condemned.”
Psalms 34:1-22 NLT

Refreshment, release, relaxation, renewal, rejuvinate, respond…..when we find
ourselves in the wilderness spaces in our life…the desert times of trials and struggle,
are we merely waiting for relief, holding our breath until it’s over, bearing under the
weight of our burden??? Maybe God has a bigger purpose in the secret spaces of our
wilderness than we know…maybe we need to hide in the cleft of His care, comfort and
protection and rest in His presence!