“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem.Tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant— the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God.Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today” ( Jeremiah 11:1-5).
The road to the land flowing with milk and honey was never intended to be paved with roses, marked by skipping or a walk of ease. The journey was always going to be a trek through the wilderness, but God wanted to bring his children to greater depths of intimacy with him by sustaining His people in that wilderness journey through utter dependency on Himself. Yet the children were not interested in the wilderness walk with God; they wanted ease, so they chose to break their covenant. They chose disobedience. In His divine love, God still did not abandon them but continued to lead them toward their promised land, yet in their effort to obtain “ease” they threw themselves into greater weariness and pain. For, not only did they still have to face the wilderness terrain, but now they were plagued by the famine of their heart and drought of their soul. They did not allow themselves to be fed and filled by God in the way he had originally intended.
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with blessings.
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
Psalm 84: 5-7
The Valley of Baka was known for being dry and without water all year long. In this Psalm, David does not say that God filled the valley with springs for the people, but that through His strength they made it a place of springs and God sent autumn rains to also cover the valley with blessings. How do you create springs of water in a desert? I believe these springs come from three intentional heart actions. (3 main points… that’s what you get from the daughter of a pastor! 
)
- Faithful obedience. God told his children, “obey me. Keep all of my commandments. And you will be my people and I will be your God.” We find springs in the desert as we obey God. “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).
- Pressing into God’s strength: get on your knees, cry out to God in desperation. We were created to live in constant desperation for God, utter dependence on His strength. This kind of desperation produces springs of water.
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). Paul is not saying this as some inspirational- “reach for the stars”, “you can do anything you put your mind to” type of quote. Paul is saying that the reason he can be content in any and every circumstance- whether in great need or having plenty, great pain or freedom from pain- is that God’s strength is always enough! In the wilderness, God’s strength is enough.
- Thankfulness. An attitude of thanksgiving is powerful. It was not a typo when Paul said that we are to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thes. 5:18). He did not mean to say, “give thanks when you feel good, or when life is really going your way, or when you feel super spiritual…” No. All circumstances. Plain and simple.
**This does not necessarily mean giving thanks for all circumstances. God can use even the worst evil for his glory, but sin is never God’s plan. We don’t need to thank God for the sin, for the evil, but we can always thank God that He will work all things for the good of those who love him for His own purposes! (Romans 8:28). Sin is not more powerful than God.
God did not spare even his own, beloved son from suffering, so why do we think we would be spared? Jesus suffered before he was ever nailed to the cross. His entire life he was misunderstood, judged, mistreated and slandered. We then should not be surprised when we are misunderstood, judged, mistreated and slandered.
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Romans 8:17
"The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first -wanting to be the center- wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. . . . What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could 'be like gods'- could set up on their own as if they had created themselves- be their own master- invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history- money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery– the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
That is the key to history, Terrific energy is expended- civilizations are built up- excellent institutions are devised; but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin. In fact, the machine conks. It seems to start up all right and runs a few yards, and then it breaks down. They are trying to run it on the wrong juice. That is what Satan has done to us humans" (C.S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity”).
We have a choice. What will our pilgrimage through the wilderness look like? Will we make springs of water; will we move from strength to strength in the Lord? Or will we throw up our hands and declare, “ I never signed up for this wilderness stuff!” and try to seek out happiness and ease for ourselves? It can never be found apart from God, yet it is still our choice to search.
Still I was not humble enough to take the humble Jesus as my God; nor did I know what his taking our weak nature was supposed to teach us. Your Word, the eternal truth, overtops the highest peaks of your creation; and he lifts up those of low degree to himself. Yet he stooped to this human clay of ours and built himself a humble habitation that he might win to himself all who are willing to surrender their own selves. He would heal men of the tumors of their pride. He would nurture their love so they would not become overconfident of their strength, but would recognize their own weakness when they saw before their eyes Divinity himself in his weakness. He shared our coats of skin, so that we would wearily throw ourselves upon his humanity, and so find ourselves lifted up by his resurrection. (The Confessions of Augustine)
And yet when we choose the “easy” way, it is still marked with great suffering…. we just don’t know it at first. Thanks Jenny…. great blog.
These truths are so powerful, and powerfully written. Good tears came as I read them and I thanked Jesus for His continued work in you. Satan may have used pain and illness to remove your dad from the ministry these past two years, but Christ’s legacy continues! Thank you, Jenny, for writing God’s truths that inspire the heart to keep on creating springs of water in the desert.
Your wisdom and understanding is deepening and I am glad I can learn along with you. Thank you for sharing these truths. What you write is sometimes encouraging, sometimes convicting, and sometimes so deep I’ve gotta read it over a couple times. 🙂 Keep pressing in, my friend.
Good thoughts Jenny. I love how you worship the Lord through your intellect and mind, and your thoughts. They are provoking and I appreciate every time there is a new revelation. Thank you for sharing.
love you girl.
kristen nicole.
Jenny,
This is remarkable – full of grace and full of truth.
We do want ease – we want what we want & we expect God to pony up with our requests.
Great post.
Thank you.
A.
I love reading what you write! It is like a sermon that I can really apply in my life. You truly have a gift! I like the point about “pressing into God’s strength”. That is something I am trying to focus more on. Sometimes I feel that I look to everyone or everything else for a solution, rather than going to the source and strength of my life, Jesus. He does care about our sufferings and He wants us to lean on Him.