Wilderness

My pastor recently started a new sermon series called “Life Hurts, Jesus Heals.” It has been an impactful series for many of our church members, including me.  In one of those sermons, he talked about “coming out of the wilderness.” He explained that we all have wilderness times in our lives. He talked about the experiences of Moses and even Jesus himself, as they had experienced their own struggles in the wilderness.

When my pastor was talking about coming out of the wilderness, I facetiously told him that recently I have felt God led me out of the wilderness only to lead me to the raging sea instead. Unpredictable. Scary. More than I planned for.

And then, I thought later about what I had said to my pastor. I realized it wasn’t actually a raging sea that God was beckoning me to. No…it was actually the same place that He had led Jesus.

To the cross.

To surrender my will to Him.

Our wilderness time causes us to either resist God or cling to Him. God wants to use it to teach us how to wield the Word and call out to Him. Leaving that wilderness is a time of experiencing God’s rescue and following Him to the next chapter He has planned for us.

And sometimes that next chapter stretches us more than the wilderness ever did. I’m sure Jesus would attest to that.

Oh, how that surrender at the cross changes us! We all have to start there to meet the Savior. And we have to keep going back… to continue in that surrender over and over.

To surrender yet another layer.

I have a friend who has helped me peel my layers. I jokingly told her that she is the one who is handing Jesus the cheese grater. But God gave her to me to teach me about surrender. She has been to the cross many times herself. Surrendering things that I’m glad God hasn’t asked me to surrender, at least not at this point in time.

My own surrender is of a different kind. So I’m at the cross once again, asking Him to help me lay it down.

Many of you know I have been putting the finishing touches on my book. The manuscript will be submitted to my publisher this week, and I’ve had to carry that manuscript with me to the cross. It’s been a growing experience for me. One of peeling another new layer.

Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all…

What do you need to surrender at the cross?

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride…
…Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
Author- Isaac Watts © Public Domain