5.17.26 – Memory Lane

With summer approaching, my mind drifted back to a men's trip I took to Belize—the land with the highest per capita population of the "Lost Sheep of the House of Israel" anywhere in the world (so they say :-). During the rainy season, it is hot, humid, lush, green, with daily showers and fruit produced in abundance. During the dry season, it is hot, arid, the ground is full of cracks, and the landscape is brown and lifeless with no fruit. The wilderness (midbar) where God found us needing His presence and where we were guarded as the apple of His eye is likened to the two seasons of Belize (Deut. 32:10):

"He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."
(Deut. 32:10)

This journey is not all that the world imagines it to be. Living a life abiding in Him (John 15:1–7) is not about creature comforts, which I have enjoyed thoroughly here in Belize. In reality, it is a painful journey where we learn to die to ourselves, surrender to Him, and learn intimacy so we can fight for the realities that are worth fighting for. Yeshua said it best when He said, "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent will take it by force" (Matt. 11:12).

Unfortunately, in too many religious circles, we have been sold some swampland, sight unseen, in a foreign country that has been promoted as paradise. Fortunately, with a little focus, we can see through the life of Yeshua what it means to be violent and take the kingdom (basilea) by force. Yeshua's life is lined up with what we can expect, and the lifestyle of obedience that He enjoyed is the life we should long for (Matt. 4:17; 10:7)—deliverance from Egypt, life lessons in Bamidbar (the wilderness), and pressing on for the prize of the Promised Land, where His presence takes on a whole new identity.

This becomes abundantly clear when we compare Yeshua, the Word (dabar) (John 1:1; 14), with the term for the wilderness (midbar). Dabar is about speaking and who is speaking, not the content of what is being said. Devarim (words) is the plural form of the word "word" :-).

It is in the wilderness (Bamidbar) that God speaks the clearest with the fewest distractions. If one wants to hear God, they need to be in a place where they are stripped of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. It is here that we hear. And Lord knows, we have all been doing a lot of hearing in our studies of Numbers (Bamidbar).

Now we are one week into the book of Numbers (Bamidbar), where God is going to use Moses to give us encouraging words (devarim) for final preparation to enter into the Promised Land.

I think we can all agree: when life is comfortable, it is hard to hear His words (devarim). The wilderness (midbar) has opportunities for murmuring, complaining, longing for the misery of the past, and openness to opportunities for cowardly behavior—the places where people really do not want to be; the outskirts of God's will and the edge of godless humanity.

This morning, while strolling down memory lane, I reflected on the work ethic of the Belizean population and the happiness that comes from knowing they gave their best effort for minimal pay. They do not mind the hot conditions and long hours. They keep their eyes focused on the reward for their labor (Titus 3:8, 14).

When I run parallel thoughts of my spiritual life with the Belizean workers, I realize that too often I have a mindset of God's kingdom as being air-conditioned, with extreme rewards for my labor and streets of gold to walk on in this journey.

It is that frame of mind that makes me realize that I am not really hearing God as clearly as I think; I am just hearing myself as god. Hence, if I am not hearing Him clearly, it is me who has moved away, not Him.

Shalom,

Alan 

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