“I will count Egypt and Babylon among those who know me – also Philistia and Tyre, and even distant Ethiopia. They have all become citizens of Jerusalem!” -Psalm 87:4
“Distant Ethiopia,” when I read these words I thought the Lord was talking about a specific location in Ethiopia and straight away a went to pull up a map of Ethiopia, but the Lord stopped me.
Jesus spoke in parables and what he said didn’t always make sense. It was hard to understand what he meant when he spoke to the people and sometimes when we read His word it doesn’t always make sense.
Today when He told me to stop and listen, out of my own understanding I still looked at the map, but this is what He spoke to my heart, “‘distant Ethiopia,’ means they aren’t there yet.”
The other day I was praying and asking the Lord to take me deeper with Him, in intimacy and relationship. As I was praying He pointed me to Jeremiah 12:5.
“If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?”
Being in a relationship with the Lord is one of the most beautiful things in the world, but sometimes we don’t realize what we are asking for when we ask for more of Him. The devil doesn’t want us to have a relationship with our Creator and so the attacks come. When they come we question God, instead of waiting expectantly for what the Lord will do with what the enemy has used for evil.
And then there are times when we realize what those words, “I want more of you Lord,” mean. When we realize that, we may become like “distant Ethiopia” and remove ourselves. We do enough to get by and be Christians, but we are not doing what Papa has asked us to do. We fear the attacks of the enemy instead of fearing the Lord. It’s not about having one foot in and one foot out, it’s about being all in.
Jesus didn’t do things half way, He went all in. The Lord didn’t call us to be like “distant Ethiopia” and not have an intimate relationship with Him, but He does warn us of the cost of following Him.
Are you ready to run against horses? Are you ready to walk through the thickets? Are you willing to not be like “distant Ethiopia” and pursue an intimate relationship with the Father no matter what comes at you? Will you go all in for our King?
