Target Practice Hurts
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Hosea 2:14: "Therefore, behold, I will allure her [Israel] and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart." This sounds so sweet but I've always wondered why it has to be the dessert. When I think of the wilderness what comes to mind is harsh dessert conditions spent in isolation: wind, sand, harsh heat, solitude. It doesn't help that Elijah went there out of frustration begging God to die and Jesus went there for 40 days of fasting before the start of his ministry. Somehow, God would powerfully attract or charm the Israelites to come into what I would think is a horrible place to be. How does God make the dessert appealing and why would he draw the one he loves into the wilderness?
The short answer is because that is the only place he can teach her discipline before He brings her to her promised land. Ever had God place a dream or promise in your heart? That is what the promised land was to the Israelites. It was their God-given dream.
So, how do you learn discipline to prepare you for your God-given dream?
By Being in a place you would rather not be
Courage the Cowardly Dog Season 1 Episode 1 – A Night at the Katz Motel
Who wants to be in the wilderness? Not me! Really, who wants to leave the comfort of their home surrounded by people they care about to go to an isolated place similar to the neighborhood Courage the Cowardly dog lived in? For those who never watched that cartoon it was the epitome of the middle of nowhere. The amazing thing is that being in a place you would rather not be presents the perfect opportunity to learn discipline.
Let's go back to our example of the Israelites, shall we?
God brought them out of Egypt and led them into the wilderness. To say they disliked being there would be an understatement.
““And all the congregation cried out with a loud voice, and [they] wept that night. All the Israelites grumbled and deplored their situation, accusing Moses and Aaron, to whom the whole congregation said, Would that we had died in Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness! Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be a prey. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?””
I'll be honest, every time I've felt as though I was in a wilderness I kicked and screamed asking to return to my nice cozy "house in the city". But what happens when you become comfortable being in a place you would rather not be? You learn diligence: careful and persistent work and effort. If you can be diligent in a place you would rather not be, imagine your work ethic when you finally get to where you want to be!
By Doing things you would rather not do
The thing about being in the wilderness is that not only are you somewhere you don't want to be, you are doing things you would rather not do. Even Moses, given the mantle of leading the Israelites, did not like what he had to do in the wilderness
““And Moses said to the Lord, Why have You dealt ill with Your servants? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You lay the burden of all this people on me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that You should say to me, Carry them in your bosom, as a nursing father carries the sucking child, to the land which You swore to their fathers [to give them]?””
Moses was tired of being the leader of the ever complaining Israelites in the wilderness. He was doing something he would rather not be doing and his reaction was to complain to God. God why am I doing this? I've asked God that many times and so have others; Elijah "…himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a lone broom or juniper tree and asked that he might die. He said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers." 1Kings 19:4 (AMP)
When you do things you don't want to, you learn duty: a moral or legal obligation; a responsibility. You learn to do things because they need to be done even though they might not be enjoyable.
By Answering to people you would rather not
Yup! I'm talking about that boss that you would rather took another job in another division or preferably another company. I'll throw out a word most people don't like to hear, SUBMISSION! *screeeam*
Yes, we are going to talk about submission. I remember reading the story of the commanding officer who approached Jesus asking Him to heal his servant. Just so we are on the same page I'll let you read the story below:
"Now a centurion had a bond servant who was held in honor and highly valued by him, who was sick and at the point of death. And when the centurion heard of Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Him, requesting Him to come and make his bond servant well. And when they reached Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying, He is worthy that You should do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built us our synagogue [at his own expense]. And Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent [some] friends to Him, saying, Lord, do not trouble [Yourself], for I am not sufficiently worthy to have You come under my roof; Neither did I consider myself worthy to come to You. But [just] speak a word, and my servant boy will be healed. For I also am a man [daily] subject to authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bond servant, Do this, and he does it. Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and He turned and said to the crowd that followed Him, I tell you, not even in [all] Israel have I found such great faith [as this]." Luke 7:2-9 (AMP)
How do you think the centurion learnt to have so much faith? He told us it was because he was a man daily subjected to authority. Do you think he loved everyone he was subject to? Of course not! I'm sure he had numerous bosses he would rather not have had to answer to but he tells us that that is how he has grown to have so much faith. By learning to be submissive to the authority placed over him, even when he didn't like whoever it was, he was able to submit himself to Jesus' authority and have faith that he would heal his servant! Selah!
Now it's not just Jesus' authority or our bosses at work that we have to submit to. Women, brace yourselves: "Wives, be subject (be submissive and adapt yourselves) to your own husbands as [a service] to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, Himself the Savior of [His] body. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands." Eph 5:23-25 (AMP). God doesn't want you to learn this submission in marriage but wishes to teach it to you now to prepare you adequately for marriage.
If we go back to the story of the centurion we see that he had become a leader with people subject to his authority; however, he didn't become a leader without first learning how to serve.
“Those who would be fit to teach, must first have time to learn; those should first serve who may thereafter rule”
When God wants to prepare you for leadership He first places you under leadership (sometimes that which you might not wish to be led by) so you can have time to learn to serve.
By Staying in a place you would rather not
The interesting thing about picking up a skill or learning something new is that you have to do it long enough for it to stick. Ever heard of muscle memory? Yes, your muscles have memory. Trust me, they do! Try being like me and going to the gym three times a week for a few months then taking a one month break and trying to pick up where you left off in your workout routine like the super star that you are. I'll tell you what will happen. Every squat enabling, lunge assisting, push-up pumping muscle will be so sore the next day. You did it long enough for your muscles to remember what to do easily and build strength in that area but if you don't stay there you don't continue the strengthening process. To build strength you have to do strengthening exercises consistently over a period of time. It's the marathon and not the sprint that builds endurance. In the same way, when we find ourselves in a place we would rather not be, sometimes we accept it…for a short period of time. Then, we start looking for an exit strategy. I can't count how many exit strategies I've looked for (keep in mind 'looked' is a euphemism for what I really did). I've learnt, however, that unless I am able to accept both being in a place I would rather not and staying in a place I would rather not, I won't ever leave that place.
Let's look at one example. Remember the Children of Israel in the wilderness? No, Israel didn’t have thousands of children. Children in this context just means descendants. Back to our story. They left Egypt and entered the wilderness. I'm sure they thought they would spend a few days traveling through the wilderness and end up in the promised land in a jiffy. Little did they know that jiffy would turn into numerous years, 40 to be exact! Why did it take so long? One reason was because they were too impatient to get to the promised land that they couldn't even enjoy being in the wilderness or see what God was doing with them there.
““…and the people became impatient (depressed, much discouraged), because [of the trials] of the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and we loathe this light (contemptible, unsubstantial) manna. Then the Lord sent fiery (burning) serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and many Israelites died.””
Sound familiar? The grumbling part not the serpents. Thankfully God doesn't usually respond to our grumbling by sending serpents to bite us but, what if He did? He would be completely justified to do that. After delivering us from all sorts of evil that we got ourselves into, He provides all our needs and takes us on a loving journey to a promised dream and we complain and grumble about how God is doing it. Sounds very ungrateful. If some of us were God we would've thought bolts of lightning a more satisfactory punishment for impudence; After all, this is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth and everything in them we are talking about! If we would stop trying to leave the place we find ourselves and actually learn the lessons God is trying to teach us for our own good we just might find that the wilderness is not such a harsh place after all. We just might find that though it is not where we are coming from nor what we are used to, the provision of God in that place is always sweet and timely like manna.
God uses these four ways to equip you for your mandate. You will not enter into your promised land as long as you remain a child so God uses the four things mentioned above to train you and grow you into the man/woman you need to be. You are in the wilderness for growth. You always meet God in the wilderness. He never sends you there alone. Instead, He guides you there to find Him there awaiting you. Then something wonderful happens: He speaks! He ministers to you; He comforts you; He prunes you; He grows you; He disciplines you. He does all this so that you can be well equipped for the promised land He is leading you to!
He did it for Jesus:
Matthew 4:1, 11 (AMP)
"THEN JESUS was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil... Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him."
He did it for Elijah:
1 Kings 19:4-9, 11-12 (AMP)
"But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a lone broom or juniper tree and asked that he might die. He said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers. As he lay asleep under the broom or juniper tree, behold, an angel touched him and said to him, Arise and eat. He looked, and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, and a bottle of water at his head. And he ate and drank and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and nights to Horeb, the mount of God. There he came to a cave and lodged in it; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? ...And He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice."
He did it for the Israelites:
Deuteronomy 8:2-9 (AMP)
"And you shall [earnestly] remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to prove you, to know what was in your [mind and] heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you recognize and personally know that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not become old upon you nor did your feet swell these forty years. Know also in your [minds and] hearts that, as a man disciplines and instructs his son, so the Lord your God disciplines and instructs you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and [reverently] fear Him. [Prov. 8:13.] For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; A land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; A land in which you shall eat food without shortage and lack nothing in it; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper."
Will it be different for you? No! Just like everyone He leads into the wilderness, God "will allure [you] and bring [you] into the wilderness, and I [God] will speak tenderly and to [your] heart." and He wants you to "know also in your [minds and] hearts that, as a man disciplines and instructs his son, so the Lord your God disciplines and instructs you." So next time you find yourself where you would rather not be, doing things you would rather not do, answering to people you would rather not, or staying somewhere you would rather not, do just that! Be there, do it, answer, and stay, knowing that God has brought you there so that after it all you will be that much closer to your God-given promise!
