The Promise Land is not Health-n-Wealth

the desert. i've spent some time there. and i think most believers have spent some time there at some point in their lives.

what is curious to me is that you don't REALLY need to spend much time there if you're obedient. think about the Israelites...they only spent SO MUCH time there because they were disobedient and God disciplined them.

if then, the desert is a discipline, then why do we seem to place so much value on it? i submit, we value it because it is an icon of His grace in our lives...even though we mess up, He allows us to try again via the desert...

i also submit, fellowship with Him in the desert is sweet for the most part. but wouldn't fellowship in the Promised Land be just as sweet if we walked in with the same set of values and understanding of Him as we do in those intensely hard places?

ok, ok. i get it. most of us (i'm the chief of this!) aren't really clear minded the first time around. when everything's going well and "right"..i ofttimes don't have a real high 'get it' factor the first time around. but....

i have noticed, that when i've spent a lot of time with Him...when i'm riding really high on the face-to-face train, well, i'm a 'there's no time like the present to make the right decision with the right attitude' kinda' girl. i seem to really jones on these times too. it's like i can make a decision, almost any decision, and i make the automatic right decision. no question in my spirit, no hesitation. just goin' for the gold.

so what am i saying?

well. i can avoid the desert. i can bypass it altogether. i simply need to ask His Spirit to hold me on that narrow road in the times of plenty...we can follow Him just as intimately in the Promised Land...the hard part of intimate following in the Promised Land is desperate need for Him is less poignant. there's less of a gap between our perceived need and His Presence...we feel we've got things together so it's easier to rely on ourselves.

let's walk on out of the desert...let's let Him show the world how He blesses His children that are obedient...how He shows favor to those who walk in His ways...let's ask for eyes that notices the major discrepancy between our status and His Provision...and stay in the rhythm of His grace in the meanwhile....

let me know what you think!

p.s. this is SO not a health-n-wealth Gospel idea...it's simply a thought i've had for a while about His favor for those who follow hard after Him...and even as i say all of this, i look at the lives of some close to me and note that their Promised Lands of favor do not look advantageous to the world. yet interacting with His placement of me as a grace-filled place is what makes it appear the Promised Land to others...am i making sense?!?

p.s.2. note that i highly value the desert for the moments of "becoming like Him in His suffering"...sometimes our desert times are less discipline and more honing and testing...praise Him for His gracious refinement!