Over the last few years, the Lord had shown me a verse of scripture at the beginning of each year, that I meditate on for that entire year. In January 2020, I received Isaiah 43:19, which states, For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Friends, when I saw this word, excited was an understatement for how I felt inside, I wanted to run, jump, scream hallelujah and dance, as in my heart, I screamed FINALLY. An important side note, I was in a wilderness season for a number of years. I was waiting on God for deliverance, as well as promises He made to me specifically. Imagine my joy.
Well, since that word was spoken, my wilderness season got drier and drier with each passing day. When 2021 started, this verse was again impressed on my heart by the Holy Spirit, two years in a row. Friends, I got excited again, I shouted thank You Jesus, and smiled in faith. Friends, 2021 up until the time of this post, had been the hardest blow to my heart I could imagine. I poured from an empty place, felt barren, felt forgotten, traumatized by the journey to the point I couldn’t hope anymore; while I still believe that Jesus was and still is Lord; deep down, I was angry with Him, felt disappointed by Him to the point where quite honestly, I did not trust God anymore. Yes you read that correctly, I did not trust the One I loved with my whole heart. Some very religious people would ask, how can you love God and not trust Him? Well, let me tell you, despite the fight within me, I was still doing the will of my Father, I loved Him more than my hurt, But, I felt a sorrow, my soul could not ignore. I even retorted, that this seemed to be the new He promised, just when I thought this season couldn’t be any drier, a new level of ‘dry‘ unlocked. Oh the lies of the enemy. I could unpack so many things based on what I have spoken already but I will in other posts to come.
The Holy Spirit opened my eyes in the latter part of this year as to what He meant, specifically to me, from that verse. Firstly, I was indeed in a wilderness, but, from that verse He gave me, He showed me He did make pathways in the wilderness and rivers in the wasteland; which is the focal point of this post. For those who are in a season such as the one I’m describing, whether you are at the beginning, in the middle or on the way out, it is so difficult to see God when everything around us is physically crumbling. Those who have never walked through a wilderness experience and have no clue what I am talking about, just keep living, it will find you. I don’t mean that in a condescending way, but if you walk with Christ it is a must. Once you are living on this earth, it is a must. I was reading a book by John Bevere, called Drawing Near; I believe every believer in their walk with Christ should read that book. It gave me a perspective that- never occurred to me before; God allows us to go through wilderness experiences to draw us to Himself. You may have heard this many times before but, we know God more, when we are hurting. When we need deliverance from something or even someone, who do we cry to? In financial distress who do we call on to provide? When the diagnosis is not what we expected to hear or not what we prayed for, who do we cry to for healing? When we wait for the fruit of the womb like Hannah, who do cry out to? When ministry returns nothing and we question if we heard God right, who is the person we ask that question? In all this, we are coming to Him, crying to Him and thus drawing closer to Him. He is drawing us to Himself.
I will not tell you the wilderness is fun or the dry place doesn’t hurt; but what I will tell you, I have never known God better than I do now. I know my Father, I know His voice, another voice I will not follow and that was sharpened in the dry place, this very blog was created in the driest season of my life in a whisper from the Holy Spirit. I now aim to pour into others going through the same thing, I needed to speak His truth, before the experience of ‘promise fulfilled’, before deliverance, before manifestation, before my song and dance. Why? This is simply due to the fact that we often hear these words when our brothers and sisters in Christ are already on the other side of the wilderness. Today, while I’m still waiting, I can truly say, I trust the Lord. If He said it, He will perform it. In this season I learnt the very meaning of peace which surpasses all understanding, I know now, that the very name of the Lord is a strong tower, I know without a shadow of a doubt that He is a shield and defense, I know now, He understands my silence and He is not afraid of raw emotions. I know now, that when my lips lie to Him and say “I trust You Lord”, He says “no you don’t, but you will”, in the kindest, gentlest, loving way. Friends, I do not know everything, I can just share from my experience, and what I want you to take from this is, do not forsake the the dry seasons, it is the place of intimacy, instruction, direction, understanding and divine downloads you will need when the season ends, and it will end.
In this Christlike life, we want to run our race to the end, too often, the dry seasons, make us throw in the towel. I love biblical examples of this, Joseph went through dry seasons and still helped govern Egypt with excellence. Abraham and Sarah went through a dry season of waiting for the fruit of the womb, the child of promise, they are both listed in Hebrews 11 as examples of faith. John the Baptist prepared the way of our Lord Jesus Christ, after years in the wilderness, David ruled over Israel and feared the Lord, loved the Lord and had an intimate relationship with Him, even through the wilderness. I also want to present a person in scripture who did not go through a wilderness experience, Saul. Saul was anointed king of Israel, the Israelites rejected God and wanted a king. Saul never went through any wilderness experience recorded in scripture before taking the throne. After some time, Saul was filled with pride and became somewhat arrogant in the place of elevation and scripture says, God regretted making him king. Friends, run, walk or even crawl through your wilderness, it is necessary for you and the kingdom. It is necessary as we walk out this Christlike Life. Our Father doesn’t want us to fail in the place of elevation so He prepares us in the dry places for our bounty. The love of our Father……..
