The wilderness has a way of revealing what you really believe about God.
In the wilderness, in seasons of waiting, it is easy to let fear creep in— it is easy to doubt God’s goodness and faithfulness.
I am recognizing that fear grows in any place that I have a distorted view of who my Father is.
In a garden, fear entered our story when we chose to believe a lie about our Father’s goodness and about His intentions for us, His children (Genesis 3).
When we agreed with The Enemy’s version of reality, our focus shifted from our Father to ourselves. And the hiding, the striving, and the shame started.
Fear tries to convince us that God is holding out on us. The Spirit of Fear attacks us because The Enemy is afraid of us and what is inside of us. He attacks us in the exact place we were made for greatness.
“You can’t sing.”
“You’re not artistic.”
“Don’t speak out— your thoughts aren’t valuable.”
“You’re too emotional.”
“No one will ever love you.”
“You don’t have anything to offer.”
How many times have I believed the lies that were spoken over me? Countless times. How many times have I forgotten or doubted God’s goodness? Countless times.
The battle is over whose voice we are going to listen to about our identity.
The lie says we have to do something to prove our identity instead of resting in our identity. The Enemy says we are “too much” here and “not enough” there.
But the God of the Universe calls us Beloved. He created us for a reason— we are significant. He says we are precious, cherished, anointed, chosen, beautiful. His thoughts about us outnumber the grains of sand on every shore on the earth.
The other day, I came across this Scripture that spoke to my spirit:
Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.
Hosea 2:14
In the wilderness, the Lord is teaching me about True Love. He is wooing me and drawing me closer to Himself. In the midst of this difficult season, He is showing me that He delights in me just for being who I am.
Even though I may not be able to see it right now, there is something beautiful happening in the waiting.
Lord, help me rest in this Truth:
And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!” For the Holy Spirit makes God’s fatherhood real to us as he whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!”
And since we are his true children, we qualify to share all his treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that he is and all that he has. We will experience being co-glorified with him provided that we accept his sufferings as our own.
I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us. The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters! For against its will the universe itself has had to endure the empty futility resulting from the consequences of human sin. But now, with eager expectation, all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God’s children. To this day we are aware of the universal agony and groaning of creation, as if it were in the contractions of labor for childbirth. And it’s not just creation. We who have already experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit also inwardly groan as we passionately long to experience our full status as God’s sons and daughters—including our physical bodies being transformed. For this is the hope of our salvation.
But hope means that we must trust and wait for what is still unseen. For why would we need to hope for something we already have? So because our hope is set on what is yet to be seen, we patiently keep on waiting for its fulfillment.
And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.
God, the searcher of the heart, knows fully our longings, yet he also understands the desires of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit passionately pleads before God for us, his holy ones, in perfect harmony with God’s plan and our destiny.
So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose. For he knew all about us before we were born and he destined us from the beginning to share the likeness of his Son.
Romans 8:14-29
