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How to Get From Wasteland Wandering to Wilderness Walking

 

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.

Jesus, we belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Exodus 2:11–15

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 

CONSIDER THIS

There is the will of God and then there are the ways of God. When the will of God is not executed in the ways of God, it leads to the wilderness of God. 
 
Today’s text is a case in point.
 
The will of God opposes the cruel and unjust treatment of slaves. Backing up a step, the will of God opposes slavery altogether. Moses intervened against an Egyptian slave master who was abusing an Israelite slave. So far so good, right? He took it a step further and killed the Egyptian. That’s where the road forked on the will of God. There is a God way of dealing with cruelty, injustice, and even abuse. However, when one does evil to defeat evil it still leaves us with evil. The right thing done in the wrong way is the wrong thing, right? When the will of God is not carried out according to the ways of God, it leads to the wilderness of God. 
 
The prophet Isaiah put it this way centuries later:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (55:8–9)
What happens when a person does the right thing in the wrong way? They lose credibility. It diminishes their authority. It destroys their witness. Isn’t that what happened with Moses here?
The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?”
The end does not justify the means. It proved costly for Moses, sending him from his palace of extreme privilege into what would be a long and challenging season of wilderness. It would be in these years that Moses would become trained in the ways of God and profoundly prepared to pursue the will of God in the deliverance of the people of God. When Moses killed the Egyptian slave-master he stepped out of Plan A and into Plan B. 
When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.
I am drawn to this phrase and image.
He sat down by a well.
The Bible is full of well stories. See if you can remember some of them today. Very significant things happen at wells. I recently connected the notion of a well with the idea of wellness. It’s a playful connection, admittedly, but I wonder if there might be more to it. A well is a place of refreshment and restoration. A well is a place of community and encounter. Ponder these connections today in your own life—a well and the wellness that comes with refreshment and restoration, with community and encounter. Wells, in the Bible, are turning points. They are places where the Spirit of God graciously narrates us back into Plan A.
 
At these wells of God—strategically placed in the wilderness seasons of our lives—our painful wandering transforms into purposeful walking. In the interest of getting from Plan B back to Plan A, what we most need is a deeper well.
 
(I will offer some additional comments on the podcast recording of today’s entry if you are able to listen. You can also see the transcript of those comments on the Wake-Up Call Facebook Group if you would like to join us there too.) 

THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE

Lord Jesus, you are my Deliverer. 

I hear you decree a season of exodus over me, over my family, and my church.
I receive it. And as you decree it, I declare it.

I receive your deliverance from my broken ways into the higher and better ways of God. 

I receive your deliverance from a wasteland of lostness into the wilderness of new life.

Jesus, lead me to the deeper well of the Holy Spirit today. I thirst for Living Water. 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen! 

THE JOURNAL PROMPTS

Have you ever done what you understood to be the will of God yet not in the ways of God? What happened? How did that go? Are you experiencing a wasteland of lostness becoming a wilderness of purpose? Ask Jesus to meet you at a God-well today. 

THE HYMN

Today we will sing “Lord, Speak to Me” (hymn 439) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here. 

For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt

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WHAT IS THIS? Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus. Each morning our community gathers around a Scripture, a reflection, a prayer, and a few short questions, inviting us to reorient our lives around the love of Jesus that transforms our hearts, homes, churches, and cities.

Comments and Discussion

5 Responses

  1. I believe that as Christ-followers we will all occasionally experience the wilderness. In my opinion, it’s a form of the crucible of life where the dross of our sin nature is purged away. And it may not always occur as a result of a bad action on our part, either. See Jesus’s being led into the wilderness after his baptism as an example. I believe that because we humans have an inherited bent towards taking the easy route and an inclination towards avoidance of suffering, we should expect to encounter wilderness experience’s in order to achieve progressive sanctification. And no, it’s not pleasant while it’s happening, but in retrospect, it was worth it.

    Reply

  2. Thank you for being open to the Holy Spirit’s leading–even in the chorus we sang today! Also, thank you for the connection of well to wellness. So much to think and pray about today.

    Reply

  4. JD: what a great 4-5 week series for an adult Sunday School class: “Wells, Turning Points”…… When I volunteered to teach my class 7 years ago I was most concerned about where my lessons would come from; one of my pastors (an Asbury guy) pointed me to Seedbed. Ephesians 3: 20 “to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think”…..Thank you.

    Reply

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