I wrote a blog post in September of 2021 about Pressing On, during a time in my life when things were going along pretty well. You can find it elsewhere on my blog. I wrote and shared it to remind myself and whoever would read it, that we should maintain a long obedience in the same direction and not be distracted from our long intentional walk. It can be easy to become satisfied and unaware of the distractions of life when things are going along smoothly. We can become complacent and lose our way.
But it may be even more important to stay on the path when we are going through those hard times, when the world seems so very dark, and we experience a sense of helplessness and hopelessness.
Without going into a lot of detail, I have experienced a prolonged season of grief. ( some of you will know what I am talking about – and the depth of that grief) Needless to say, I have felt a long, deep, and dark sense of loss.
I am currently taking a class at church called, “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.” In it, the author of the book/instructor writes about “the Wall” that we all go through at various points in our lives. He writes:
“Every follower of Jesus at some point will confront the Wall —or, as the ancients called it, ‘the dark night of the soul.‘ Emotionally healthy spirituality helps provide a (partial) roadmap of both how one goes through the Wall and what it means to begin living on the other side.
” . . . . Receiving the gift of God in the Wall, however transforms our lives forever.”1
After leaving Egypt, God’s people had to go through the desert in order to learn how to trust God. God tested them and taught them to rely on him. “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” Deuteronomy 8:2 NIV
They spent 40 years wandering the desert before being allowed to settle in the promised land. They did not know the plan or what God was going to do as they wandered through the wilderness. So often on our own journey, we do not know where we are going or what will happen next. We might even grumble that God has not shown us his plan or even that he has a plan. Wandering through the wilderness can cause you to feel helpless and even hopeless.
In the wilderness we wander
In the wilderness we weep
In the wasteland of our wanting
Where the darkness seems so deep2
But through our wandering, our journey through the wall, as dark as it is, we know that God is with us, and that he will provide everything we need (shoes that don’t wear out and food to eat). “But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear. Yet the Lord says, “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 29: 4-6 NIV
This reminded my of the song, “In the Wilderness” by Michael Card. The song is about the purpose of spending time in the wilderness. In it he sings:
But He gives grace sufficient
To survive any test
And that’s the painful purpose
Of the wilderness
And that’s the painful promise
Of the wilderness
I love the turn of the phrase that “He gives grace sufficient to survive any test” is both the painful purpose and promise of the wilderness. So I write, to preach to myself, that as hard as it is right now in my own stint in the wilderness, that God has both a purpose and promise for me even now.
1Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, 2017. page 97
2In the Wilderness, Michael Card
A Long Intentional Walk 