Back in 1986, the Lord spoke to me through a verse in Deuteronomy that confirmed in my heart His specific calling to Kenya as missionaries.
As random as could be, this Scripture popped up at a time where I’d been challenged to seek a Word-from-the-Word regarding the will of God for such a big life change.
I’ll not forget the moment, for it caught me off guard and, rather, took my breath away.
I don’t think I doubted God’s ability to give me affirmation in this way, but I certainly know I doubted my ability to hear.
When my mentor suggested I seek the Lord in this way, she instructed I not do anything more than simply just read where I currently left off reading in my quiet-time.
This wasn’t magic.
There were no special formulas or incantations.
All that was required was a simple prayer for God to speak to my heart from His “logos” with His “rhema.”
To hear meant listening carefully, to be open to His voice, keeping my heart in a neutral place no matter His Word to me (in other words, not coming to the Scripture with a preconceived answer).
Rhema: God’s timely, spoken word (logos)
received in our hearts
in a very personal
and specific way.
These are the kind of words that make our “hearts burn within us.”
XXXXXX
Bay and I happened to be on a short camping trip.
We’d ridden horses up into his outfitting area and placed our tent in a location, not just spectacularly beautiful, but where few others ventured.
However, about the time we set everything up, the afternoon monsoons crept in and rain hammered our tent.
What better time to begin seeking God’s voice, while closeted away from the storm.
So, I followed the simple instructions given to me, offered up a prayer, and began to read where I left off in my Bible.
I opened to Deuteronomy, chapter 1.
I got to verse 6 and stopped, because somehow what Moses recorded from God’s mouth to him, seemed fitting to me (again, the passage is so random, it’s almost humorous).
The Lord said to us…”You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn, continue on your journey, and go…”
Only through God’s sweet Spirit could that brief Word have so resonated with my heart as if the Lord spoke it directly to me (for my own reassurance —- and, later, He did the same with Bay pointing out a completely different passage from Psalm 67).
AND…as if that wasn’t enough, the Lord repeated it to the Israelites (and to me) in the next chapter of Deuteronomy, as well (vs 3):
‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn…and go…”
Why share this memory?
Because I landed in Deuteronomy this week and these verses stood out, again, but for a different reason in a different season, and I’ve shared them no less than three different times with someone else.
Sometimes, we can get stuck in the same place (it’s as simple as that):
Stuck in our heads (our thoughts circle around one desolate place and another – by the way, that happened to be the literal meaning of the name of the mountain, “desolate.”)
Stuck in worry.
Stuck in fear.
Stuck in negativity.
Stuck in bad relationships.
How does this happen?
Not many of us like the “c” word – CHANGE!
New steps are uncertain; and, uncertainty is, well, worthy of a few sighs of sadness, at the least.
Uncertainty is uncomfortable.
Yet, there comes a time, where the Lord speaks these words over us:
“You’ve been here long enough, circling this wilderness – it’s time to “turn” and move on, take some next steps in a new direction.”
As Oswald Chambers says:
If we don’t “turn and go,” pretty soon, that desolate, wilderness of stuck can begin to define us.
It didn’t define God’s people, because they listened when God spoke and moved (even if they did grumble along the way – ugh!).
However, we don’t call the Israelites those “wilderness wanderers.”
That is NOT who they are.
Instead, we call them by their identity in the Lord: GOD’S CHOSEN.
They changed their course, sought the next steps, and went as God directed.
They followed Him and found their promised land.
It’s a place of soul-rest.
It’s waiting for us, as well.
